Unexpected Alliances
by Freddo
Summary: It is 1971. Speed Racer returns to racing after serving in Vietnam and marrying Trixie only to find that he is right back against some old enemies and involved in a new mystery with a strange ally in a new dangerous race.
1. Chapter 1

**Unexpected Alliances**

**Another Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"**

**Chapter One "Speed's Homecoming"**

-----------------------------------------------------

_First…we have to deal with the usual copyrights and credits...etc…._

_**Speed Racer**_ _is (c) 2007 by Speed Racer Enterprises… I don't own this property...__**Freddo**_

_Second: This is a sequel to __**Attack and Counterattack**_, _but, this time, we are solely in Speed's universe; have fun!…__**Freddo **_

* * *

**I. COMING HOME UNDER A SHADOW**

**Friday, October 22, 1971**

**The United States**

**Los Angeles** **International Airport**

**Incoming Overseas Terminal**

**1315 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

"What's wrong with Speed?" asked the former Trixie Shimura as she sat on a bench in the LAX Incoming Terminal. Trixie was known as the "former" Trixie Shimura since on September 13, 1969, she had become Trixie Racer at the end of the 1969 racing season, where he had again repeated as World Champion. She still remembered the wedding; it had been attended by all of their friends and colleagues in the racing world. 

"I don't know," said Sparky. "His plane must be late?"

"I checked with some people," said Racer X. "They said that all of the American Airlines flights are stacked up. It's just a busy time here at LAX, Trixie."

"Rex," whispered Pops Racer after he made sure there was no one around; he knew Racer X's true identity now, but he knew it was important not to blow his cover. "Were you in Vietnam?"

"I was, in the early 1960's; I was one of the first advisers that President Kennedy sent there; it was not long after…you know…"

Pops knew what he meant. He knew that Rex was not referring to the time he had run away; that had been in the late 1950's. Pops knew that Rex was referring to his initial recruitment as a secret agent. Pops had learned early on not to ask too many questions about Rex's secret work as Agent Nine. He knew that some of it…certainly wasn't pleasant.

_My time in Vietnam wasn't good, or pleasant. Speed, I hope yours was better. But even the fact that you had to go there was a mistake,_ thought Rex. _They never handled this right from the beginning; trying to keep a war secret is impossible. I know. Even with some of the things I did, and some of the Viet Cong I assassinated, it was impossible to stop Ho Chi Minh on the cheap. Or on the QT. They should have just announced there would be a major land war in Asia from Day One, and not…run things like they did…_

"Speed, please, please come land soon," said Trixie. "I want to see you land…"

Trixie had enjoyed a wonderful three weeks with Speed; before, that is, his draft notice had arrived. Trixie remembered that some of their friends in the racing world had advised Speed to seek a deferment from the draft, so that he could return to racing again and compete for his unprecedented fourth World Championship in a row. However, a long talk one night with his father and Rex (who had revealed his true identity to the family at last at the wedding) had convinced Speed to accept his obligation to his country. The next day, as Trixie prayed for him and said goodbye, Gregory "Speed" Racer became Private Gregory Racer of the United States Army and shipped off to Basic Training in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Trixie remembered from Speed's letters that boot camp had been very hard for him. The drill sergeants were aware of his identity as World Champion Racer, and he was given a hellish time in boot camp by the DI's even though he had made squad leader. Trixie, Sparky, Spritle, and Speed's parents had been present at his graduation a few weeks later, and were pleased to see that Speed had made Private First Class. However, Speed hadn't gotten his training preference, which was to serve in the Armor Branch, driving a tank or armored personnel carrier. Instead, he had been assigned to infantry training at Fort Bragg, where he had done well even though his heart wasn't in it.

Then, in early 1970, he had enjoyed two weeks' worth of leave at home before the call came to report back to duty. As expected, and as feared by all, on February 23, 1970, Speed again bade Trixie farewell as he boarded a plane that would take him to the one place on Earth not many American boys wanted to go; Vietnam.

As his plane began its final approach, Sergeant Gregory Racer sat back in his dark green US Army "Class A" dress uniform, thinking of everything that had happened to him in the past.

_Vietnam,_ he thought. _It was the strangest place I had ever seen in my life…and I never want to go back there…never again, not even for a race._

Once Speed had entered "in-country" at Da Nang, he entered a weird, strange world where everything was turned upside down. Oddly enough, the jungle itself didn't bother Speed all that much; he had been in worse places in some of the adventures he had been in back in his on-hold professional racing career. It was the caliber of men he had to serve with that bothered him.

Many of them, Speed thought, were fools, maniacs, or idiots. However, some of the men in Speed's squad, granted, were decent, upstanding men like himself, even though within a few days, formal names were dropped in favor of nicknames. His nickname, naturally, was "Speed" or sometimes just "Racer". There had been decent men he had served with, like Sarge Fixer, the platoon XO (everyone had forgotten his real name; it was something like Ficskowski, so "Fixer" had done as the Sarge's name), a big man from Appalachia they just called "J.R.", "Bruce" (as in "Bruce Lee", because Specialist Ken Matsunaga somewhat resembled Bruce Lee), a big African-American medic named Bry Hairston, and their platoon leader, Lieutenant David Forrester.

Dave had a rather interesting, thoughtful face, Speed had remembered. It was finely featured, with a hint of Japanese ancestry in it. Dave had dark eyes, a fine nose, and wore wire-rimmed granny glasses, and what could be seen of his short hair was sandy or honey blonde. And, in the hell of Vietnam, he had been possessed of a fine, gentle sense of humor.

Sometimes…sometimes, Lieutenant Forrester reminded Speed of someone else; but someone he was sure he had never met.

_Okay, I have never met this girl,_ thought Speed. _Except….except where, in my dreams? But those dreams…they're so weird…_

* * *

The strange dreams, Speed had remembered, had started in 1970. The first dream had come when they had been up for close to seventy-two hours on a forced march. 

They had been forced to follow a suspected group of Viet Cong in a part of South Vietnam that was perilously close to the DMZ. The villages, if one could call them villages, were little hamlets deep in the jungle that had been heavily infiltrated by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese sympathizers of all sorts.

When approaching one of these small villages, a village known as Da Lanq, Speed and his platoon got into a long, protracted firefight with the enemy. In that firefight, Speed remembered, some members of their platoon had killed everyone there who had been alive, men, women, and children in the village. Lieutenant Forrester would not have to penalize them afterwards, though, since, in some sort of justice, those men who had led the massacre of the children had been killed by the Viet Cong in a rough justice.

The battle had taken about three hours. When it was over with, Speed was finally able to go to sleep. While he slept, he had a dream about something very strange regarding Trixie…

* * *

_In the dream, Speed remembered that he saw Trixie. Trixie's pajamas were torn, and her feet were bleeding as an evil-looking man with a beard used Snake Oiler to drive her through a hot jungle like an animal. She had been tied up with a vine, and Snake was leading her along by the end of the vine, like a dog on a leash. _

_She missed Speed more than ever, and she was horribly depressed; particularly since she could see the El Tigre Pyramid looming in the distance, just across the rushing river._

"_Don't worry, we're not far," said the evil man (whom, Speed somehow knew, was named the Master) as he walked along with a machete in one hand and his damnable TCE gun in the other hand. Trixie wasn't sure where he had hidden the sphere, but she could feel its presence on his person, even though she was about nine feet away from him._

_The hypnotized form of Snake wasn't letting her get any closer to the Master than that. Trixie knew that the R'Khells were enemies, but she was still sickened at the cold manner in which the Master had killed them. She even felt pity for Karnaz himself. She wondered vaguely if Karnaz had been really evil deep down; or if he had just been forced to follow orders like any soldier._

_Her train of thought was derailed when she saw six practically naked men leaping out of the rain forest before them. They had spears, and she couldn't understand their tribal language, but she guessed that they were trying to bar the way to the group._

_I wish they were on our side, she thought in a gloomy fashion. Of course, I know the last bunch of them tried to kill us; well, I'm sure they did. Spears and blowgun darts must mean they aren't friendly._

_Trixie shivered as she remembered what she had seen. She had seen the corpses of Brazilian Army troops, corpses of what she guessed were members of another tribe (who had worn loincloths), and corpses of these men, men who wore only feathers on their heads and rude cords and a small bit of grass around their waists; men who had painted their faces to resemble skulls. These were men who, as she had seen in a most nauseating manner, enjoyed eating human flesh. She guessed that…because she had seen one of them bending over a dead Brazilian soldier, and…_

Then, Speed woke up. He was still on the plane. And it hit him…

_I was dreaming that same weird dream…all over again,_ he thought. _The Master?_ _Who is he? Who was he? What happened to us? To Trixie and I? Did this really happen to us, or is this some nightmare that Trixie and I are having? I know she was having the dreams, too, since she wrote to me and let me know she was having them. I wish I knew. I wish…she could tell me…_

Speed snapped his head up just as the stewardess said, "Please fasten your seatbelts and lock your seats in the upright position. We will be landing in Los Angeles in about ten minutes."

Speed followed through with the stewardess' orders as he forced himself to respond.

* * *

"Well?" said Pops Racer a few minutes later at the gate. 

"I don't see him yet," said Sparky as they watched people (and other soldiers) coming off the plane.

"I hope he's all right," Trixie said as she scanned the crowds for him.

Not far away, a group of hippies also noticed the soldiers coming off the plane. A few of them grinned evilly and came near the gate with their peace-sign posters, beginning to chant, "_Ho, Ho, Hey, Hey, how many kids did you kill today? Ho, Ho, Hey, Hey, How Many kids did you kill today_?"

"YOU SLEAZEBAGS!" yelled Pops. "Cut that out! These men deserve a better welcome home than that!"

As some reporters came over, upon noticing the Racers, the hippies yelled more loudly than ever as Speed came out of the jetway, blinking with shock as he noticed his family surrounding him (and Trixie grabbing him in a long hug), along with the TV lights of the press, the yells of the reporters, and the chants of the dirty, long-haired and sandal-clad hippie protestors.

"Speed…I love you!" yelled Trixie.

He was able to kiss her, but then had to deal with with a reporter who had gotten past Pops yelling, "Mister Racer! Are you going to return to professional racing?"

"I haven't made a decision yet!" he snapped.

"How were you affected by Vietnam?" yelled another reporter.

"NO COMMENT!" yelled Speed.

"Hey man?" yelled a drugged-out looking female hippie with a flower who got through to Speed and Trixie. "Take this flower? You kill any babies, ya capitalist pig running dog?"

"SHOVE THAT FLOWER UP YOUR BUTT, JANE FONDA!" yelled Trixie as she shoved the hippie aside roughly. The hippie girl then spat on both of them, and Trixie responded by slapping the girl hard across the face.

Speed was ready to lash out with his fists against the male hippies (one of whom was actually carrying a North Vietnamese flag) until some policemen lashed out with their nightsticks against the hippies, clearing a path for Speed and his family to leave the arrival lounge so that Speed could clear Customs.

_What a reception_, thought Speed. _I have to fight them over there, and when I get home, their sympathizers are over here. This is ridiculous!_

* * *

**II. PLANS IN THE MOUNTAINS**

**Saturday, October 23, 1971**

**The Principality of Hohergarten**

**Schwarzes Felsenschloß**

**(Black Rock Castle)**

**0951 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

The Principality of Hohergarten was a small, forbidding nation loacted high amongst the Alps at the edge of the Bodensee somewhere between West Germany and Austria. 

Like nearby Liechtenstein, it was a sovereign nation of its own. However, like Kapetopek, it had diplomatic relations with very few other nations.

It had been ruled for generations by the Von Euhler family from their hereditary castle of Schwarzes Felsenschloß high on a peak of the Alps. The Von Euhlers, who were recognized as nobility by the few nations that had relations with their evil little nation, had an evil name throughout Europe and they were feared by the few farmers and civilians who had the misfortune of being ruled by the Baron Von Euhler and his cruel officials.

At this hour of the morning, as it rained and lightning and thunder resounded amongst the Alpine peaks, a black BMW was being driven past a barricade manned by guardsmen of the Hohergarten Militia (whom, as the main passenger of the car noticed with favor, were clad in field grey uniforms with coal-scuttle helmets) up towards the main gates of the castle.

At the castle gates, an old man in a black suit with a walking stick emerged from the BMW as his driver held the door open for him. The old man cackled as he came up to the castle gates, to meet a tall man in a black military uniform….a tall man whose face looked like a skull-like grimace…a man who would look that way forever.

At the threshold of the gates, the old man stopped, came to attention, and snapped his right arm up in an ominous salute. "Heil Hitler," he snapped.

"_Heil Hitler_," snapped the tall man with acid in his voice. Then, the man who was known to his nation as the Baron Heinrich Von Euhler but was known to the world at large as Captain Terror said, "It is good to see you again, Herr Doktor Tubingen. However, is not your Fuhrer long dead?"

"I come here to discuss the Fuhrer," said Dr. Tubingen with an evil smile.

"I know he is dead," said Captain Terror. "He committed suicide in April 1945, did he not?"

"My son Snake, also known as Hans, is not sure, but, then again, he has been a drooling idiot in various degrees ever since that last race he was in," said Captain Terror as his Nazi-clad guards shut the castle gates behind them as the two men came together into a large, ominous drawing room hung with dark tapestries. "If your latest scheme to resurrect the _Reich_ would work, it had better be of some profit to me," said Captain Terror. "I would, of course, wager that the _Deutsches Reich_ cannot be resurrected any more than our Fuhrer can, even though Father was allied with him in the war."

"We found some technology," said Dr. Tubingen. "It requires more money, and more research time. Can you raise me a few million more marks?"

"What will the tecnology do for you?" said Terror.

"Fulfill our wildest dreams," said Dr. Tubingen with an evil laugh. "And perhaps we can build you a real arsenal, my Baron. An arsenal with which you can make the nations who hold you in contempt tremble yet again."

"How do you propose I raise this money? Tax the peasants again?" laughed Terror. "My nation does not have many peasants to tax, even though I do enjoy killing them, ja."

"Can you not hold another Alpine Race? Challenge those arrogant racers to meet again? Charge a high entry fee?"

"Hmm…fifty outside drivers, at one million dollars per driver, that would produce fifty million dollars for your cause, whatever it is. Combine them with a field of Six from my Car Acrobatic Team, a field that will win this time, and you have a nice scheme. All right. I trust your madness. We have a bargain."

Captain Terror and Doctor Tubingen shook hands as a bolt of lightning went off outside.

* * *

**III. HOME**

**Saturday, October 29, 1971**

**The Los Angeles Area**

**Speed Racer's Residence**

**0951 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

Gregory "Speed" Racer awoke in his bed with his wife Trixie running a playful finger over his chest. 

"Did you make up your mind yet?" she sang.

"About what?" he said as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. "I had such a weird dream."

"About what?"

"We'll discuss it later."

"Speed, did you make up your mind about your career yet?"

"A few months ago, before what I saw and tried to stop at Da Lanq, I was thinking of Officers' Candidate School…do you know that?"

"Speed?"

"Now, I'm not so sure. Except for you and Go Team, I'm really another veteran back from Vietnam who's not sure what he wants to do yet. I think returning to professional racing would probably do me some good, but…"

"You haven't been down to the garage yet," said Trixie with a whisper.

"I'll want to go, soon…" said Speed.

"But?"

"Right now, I'm a little more interested in my wife," said Speed as he took Trixie into his arms and slipped her nightdress off…

* * *

Later that morning, after the Racers made love, showered together, and dressed and ate breakfast, Speed put his bandana back around his neck (for the first time in many years) and walked down to the garage of their house hand-in-hand with Trixie. 

In the garage sat three cars, side-by-side. One was Speed's new black Pops Motors sports coupe; the second was Trixie's yellow Mercedes, and the third lay preserved under a car cover.

"You have her covered up and all," said Speed.

"It's like she's been waiting for you," said Trixie.

Speed removed the cover from the third car with a slow flourish, revealing a car that had been waiting for him since the 1969 racing season…the Mach Five.

Speed got into the familiar cockpit with Trixie as she handed him the keys.

"She won't start," said Speed. "She's been in storage for two years."

"Try me," said Trixie.

Speed turned the key, and the Mach Five started up again, just like he had never left her behind.

"Let's go for a drive," said Trixie.

Speed nodded, and off they went.

* * *

When they arrived back home at their split-level house, Speed checked the mail. He found an envelope addressed to him in ornate Germanic lettering, but in English. 

"What's this?" he said. "I'm getting fan letters from Transylvania, Trixie?"

"Oh?" she said. "Open it."

Speed looked over the letter again. There was no return address.

When he opened it, he unfolded a parchment letter that looked very familiar. It read:

TO: GREGORY "SPEED" RACER

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS FROM THE PRINCIPALITY OF HOHERGARTEN

WE REMEMBER OUR PAST RACE TOGETHER IN THE ALPINE RACE OF 1967 AND WE AGAIN GREET YOU AND INVITE YOU TO RACE AGAIN.

WE SHALL BE HOLDING A NEW ALPINE RACE, TO BEGIN IN GERMANY, PASS THROUGH SWITZERLAND, TO END IN HOHERGARTEN. I INVITE YOU TO COMPETE THEREIN WITH THE GREATEST RACERS IN THE WORLD AND TO AGAIN TAKE UP OUR HISTORIC RIVALRY IN A FRIENDLY FASHION ON NOVEMBER 15, 1971 AT THE VERY END OF THE RACING SEASON. I HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE. THE PARTICULARS ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS NOTICE. I PRAY YOU ARE MAN ENOUGH TO RACE WITH US AGAIN, FRIEND.

YOURS, CAPTAIN TERROR AND THE CAR ACROBATIC TEAM.

"Captain Terror?" read Trixie as she looked over the letter. "And he wants a million dollars to join the race?"

"The purse is ten million," said Speed. "Go Team can raise that kind of money; Pops said they did very well for the past two seasons with Janine Trotter racing in my place."

"Speed….it's dangerous…I'd like you to go back…but not to this kind of race…not against HIM. Don't you have your Army Reserve meeting then, too?"

"I'll meet with the Reserves again at the end of November, when I'm scheduled to report for my first Reserve drill. Besides, Trixie, he has challenged me," said Speed. "I have to accept."

Trixie looked into Speed's eyes and saw he had already made up his mind. Then, she just held him and cried.

"Speed…" she said in a broken voice as he hugged her.

* * *

Speed has taken up Captain Terror's mad challenge. 

What will happen during this race?

Will Captain Terror's mad plot to help the evil Dr. Tubingen work?

Who will win the race?

Stay tuned for Chapter Two: "Back to the Alps"


	2. Chapter 2

**Unexpected Alliances**

**Another Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"**

**Chapter Two "Back to the Alps (Part One)"**

-----------------------------------------------------

_First…we have to deal with the usual copyrights and credits...etc…._

_**Speed Racer**_ _is (c) 2008 by Speed Racer Enterprises… I don't own this property...__**Freddo**_

_Second: This is a sequel to __**Attack and Counterattack**_, _but, I can't guarantee we're staying in Speed's universe after all, although we do, for this chapter (I think..)…__**Freddo **_

* * *

**I. BACK FROM THE GRAVE**

**Monday, October 31, 1971**

**The Principality of Hohergarten**

**Schwarzes Felsenschloß**

**(Black Rock Castle)**

**2300 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

Black Rock Castle, in the Principality of Hohergarten, like the castle of any self-respecting evil overlord, had its very own Mad Scientist's Laboratory someplace in the dungeon. It was very appropriate that it was Halloween night, because there was great evil afoot. 

"Did you successfully buy it?" said Captain Terror as he looked at Doctor Tubingen.

"Ja," said Tubingen. "We bought two items. They both had their price. One was just money and bribes to the right people. The other…not only bribes, but favors to various commissars in the Soviet Bloc. Stalin never wanted this item given up to anyone, and Kruschev and Brezhnyev have wanted it hidden, too. Luckily, we have contacts with a Politburo member who was willing to help us smuggle what we needed out of East Germany. We didn't get all of what we wanted, but we got enough to work with for the celluar matrix. But we had to give him something in return."

"What was that?" said Terror.

Then, a weird apparition stumbled in, cackling and leaning on a little walking stick. It looked like an incredibly ugly woman, who was short, vile, hunchbacked, dressed in smelly sackcloth, and had weird pop eyes. She also smoked a little cigar.

"Aga been through lots and lots," said Tubingen's "Igor" as she shambled up to him. "Aga been to lots of funny places, yessss? Aga smoke many cigars under many suns. Aga knows much. Aga help us make a more efficient Government on Earth."

"What is _that_?" said Captain Terror.

"Me Aga," said the cackling old crone as she puffed on her repulsive-smelling cigar. "Me's a midwife, sorceror, temporal engineer. Aga shows Doctor Tubingen how to fix all sorts of things. Aga like it on Earth, but she like it even better where she come from." Then, she drooled and laughed.

"You brought me an idiot," said Terror.

"No, sir, an _idiot savant_," whispered Tubingen.

"heeeehheeeeeheeeheeeheeeheeheeeeeheeeeeeeheeeeeee…._D'Kranshava _modulator," she said as she picked up some weird piece of machinery off a workbench. "Be very delicate with it and treat it with ressspeeeeccct. This thingie could turn you inside out if the polarity flow gets reversied, yesss….heheheheheheheh…"

"Suffice it to say, she's not from around here," sniffed Tubingen.

"Where does the thing come from?" said Terror.

"A nasty little planet about 35,000 lightyears away from Earth by way of Sagittarius. She's already about a hundred and seventy-five years old. Back where she comes from, she lurks in a prison beneath a Temple to some mad alien god-king overlord type," said Tubingen. "Don't say that the aliens are more intelligent than us; these fools _worship_ this Freak."

"Ekkie is the Greatest," said Aga. "Me charter member number six hundred and sixty-six of his Fan Club. I love my Lord Ekkie…_Flash Gordon was there in silver undeerwear, Claude Rains was the Invisible Maaannn,_" she sang as if she was singing some kind of weird bluesy dirge. "I was the original Frankie Fan…heheheheheheheee…."

"This is weird," said Terror.

Something honked outside and a hearse backed up an evil-looking path as an iron door clanked open on chains.

Immediately, some of Terror's goons, other members of the Car Acrobatic Team who went by the code names Anthrax, Pellagra, Gangrene, Ninja, Hashishim and Pit Viper, gathered around the hearse and waited as a semi-normal-looking but ugly driver and some weird thing that literally looked like a black-furred Silverback Gorilla wearing a military uniform and eyepatch came out of the hearse and helped the Car Acrobats hustle a massive oversize metal casket into the room.

"It looks like it came from a grave," said Terror with approval as they brought the rusty, dirt-covered casket into the room.

"It did," said Tubingen. "The last we saw of this thing was when Pops Racer had the cursed car dismantled and its heart buried right with the bones of the last racer it claimed. He thought no one would _dare_ dig it up again this time. But, now we know how to work with it properly. And we don't have such niceties to worry about as respecting the _dead_, do we?"

"Dimensional juice!" yelled Aga triumphantly as more lightning went off outside.

The racers, chaffeur, and the gorilla-thing hustled the casket onto a rude bier made of sawhorses. Then, the eight-foot tall, four hundred and ten pound gorilla turned to Terror and, to his shock, it spoke. "Ten thousand marks, Terror. Or we won't help you break the chains. I sure wouldn't without getting paid. I'd never dirty my paws on those stinking chains!"

"Pay him, Tubingen," said Terror. "Or, is he an IT?"

"You _do not_ insult me!!!" roared the gorilla in a feral snarl of rage as he picked up Terror by his blouse. "The last man who insulted _I_, Gary the Gorilla, had his entrails torn out and I decorated a _fence_ with them! Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo _ooh_! Want to try me, human being?" he said as he bared his teeth right in Terror's face.

"Well, it sure isn't Chim-Chim," said Anthrax.

"Quiet, idiot!" said Gangrene. "He's messin' up the boss! We gotta do somethin!"

"Not a bad idea," said Ninja.

"I am your overlord!" gasped Terror. "You do not insult or lay hands upon me, Gorilla, or I will have you hung, drawn and quartered! My word is law in this country!"

"Gary, put him down," said Tubingen. "I'm sure he's sorry," said Tubingen as Gary realized that Terror's racers were all pointing Lugers at him.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't rip your damned throat out, Ugly," said Gary as he put Captain Terror down. "Okay, Creep, let's open the box."

"Yes, Gary," said the ugly, cadaverous-looking chaffeur as he produced a crowbar from beneath his coat. Gary helped him position the crowbar at one end, while Gary took the other side, just grasping the chain in two of his huge paws like string. "One, two, three, GO!" snapped Gary.

The chaffeur pried at his end while Gary just used the brute strength of his leathery black furry paws at the other end to snap the heavy, rusty chains and locks that closed the casket.

"The bones of Curly Cranium," said Terror as he pulled away the sheet from the oversize coffin with shaking hands. "He is dead and of no use to us. Anthrax, discard these in the gas oven we preserved from the old days when we are finished."

"Yessir," said Anthrax.

Lighting went off again outside as it was seen that the skeletal corpse in a racing firesuit was embracing an engine in its casket. Even the other Car Acrobats were afraid of that engine.

Lightning came again as Terror laughed while pushing grease and grave dirt off the engine block. He grinned as he said, "Men, behold the GRX. But, this time, I will have learned how we can control it…and use it…to our own ends!"

Captain Terror laughed like a madman as he said, "Tubingen, when does the next shipment come?"

"At midnight," said Doctor Tubingen. "The East Germans are bringing it right from where it lay in secret in Magdeburg in another hearse. Or rather, should we say, _him_, dead as he is? But we must treat _his_ remains with respect. Gary, here, was my first experiment in gene-splicing and enhanced cloning, giving intelligence to a brute animal's genes," said Tubingen. "HE will be our next experiment!"

The Car Acrobats laughed as they plotted their next move.

* * *

**II. MORE LIFE AT HOME**

**Tuesday, November 1, 1971**

**The Los Angeles Area**

**Speed Racer's Residence**

**1100 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

"_So Sergeant Pepper took you…by surprise…"_

Speed was in a bummed-out mood as he, Sparky, and Trixie worked together under the hood of the Mach Five in his garage. The news that The Beatles had split up while he had been in Vietnam was not nice, and hearing how the former bandmates were slagging at each other not only in the press, but even in their solo _songs_ was a bit disturbing. Speed had purchased Goerge Harrison's _All_ _Things Must Pass_ and John Lennon's recently released album _Imagine _in a store yesterday. He had _Imagine_ playing on the stereo in the garage now, and hearing this song called _How Do You Sleep?_ which seemed to be John ragging at Paul McCartney, was not a fun experience.

"_Those Freaks was right when they said you was dead…_" continued the song on the stereo as Sparky said. "Got it, Speed!"

"Got what?" gasped Speed.

"Bad fuel injector on cylinder number three," said Sparky. "We've got to pull and replace it."

"How long will _that_ take?" said Trixie.

"Maybe an hour, give or take," said Sparky as he pulled out another set of tools. "Wanna help us, Trix?"

Trixie gritted her teeth as the song went into a new tirade.

"_A Pretty Face May Last a Year or two…_"

"Speed, would you turn that off?" said Trixie. "John's getting under my skin a bit…"

"Okay," said Speed as he shut off the record. "The sixties were so cool. Why do I get the feeling the seventies are gonna be a massive bummer of a decade?"

"Yeah," said Sparky. "I get that impression, too."

"Speed, you and I are finally together," said Trixie as she hugged Speed. "What could interfere with that?"

"This race, for one thing," said Speed. "You two were right. That first Alpine Race was hell. I don't like the idea of a second…"

"Then why not drop out?" said Trixie. "We can use the extra time to get ready for the next Oriental Grand Prix in a month."

"Trixie, I already sent in the entry fee draft and sent a letter to Captain Terror accepting his challenge."

"Damn him," said Trixie. "Damn you men and your egos!" she said as tears ran down her cheeks. "If you wanted to leave me a widow, this was sure a good way of going about it!"

"Trixie, I…"

"Dealing with that team again is bad news!" cried Trixie. "Yes, I know they helped you that one time when both of you were in danger from those terrorists! But, any race they set up is just an excuse to murder people! Captain Terror is nothing but a tin-plated dictator of a tiny county like that weirdo Victor Von Doom character!"

"Trixie, Doctor Von Doom is a myth! There is no such place as Latervia!" insisted Speed.

"Speed, you're wrong again, as usual," said a deep voice as the three of them noticed a tall, muscular man in a white firesuit and black mask leaning against the garage doorway.

_Rex!_ Speed said silently, his lip movements giving him away to his older brother as Racer X chuckled and said, "That's still _Racer X_, Speed. Or did you forget we're half outside?"

"Oh, yeah, right. Trixie was just trying to talk me out of entering the Second Alpine Race, but…"

"I know. You did something foolish and entered," said Racer X. "Because of you, I had to enter the race, too. But I intend to _win_, Speed!"

"Why?"

"I have a score to settle with Captain Terror. You don't know about it; it took place while you were in Vietnam," said Racer X. "And, yes, Latervia is a real place."

"How do you know that?" said Trixie.

"I've been to Latervia. And I've met Doctor Victor Von Doom," said Racer X with a tight smile.

"How did you meet _that_ weirdo?" said Sparky. "He hasn't been seen in the States for years."

"He is a weirdo, he is evil," said Racer X. "Yet, I know him because I had to _work_ with him."

"What?" said Speed.

Racer X raised his hand. "It is a long story. We will get into it some other time," said Racer X. "I came here to tell you not to enter the Second Alpine Race, Speed. But, since you didn't, I will have to watch you. Beware, Speed. It is not a good race when a man takes a fifty million life insurance policy out against your life when racing. The policy was taken out with a very shady outfit called Flybynight Insurance Unlimited. It protects your life in the event of your death in an auto race."

"Who took it out and did they make Trixie the beneficiary?"

"No," said Racer X. "It was taken out by Captain Terror. And he is the beneficiary of this special policy. In fact, a policy has been taken out against every driver who has entered this race."

"Why?" said Speed.

"Isn't it obvious?" cried Trixie. "Speed, Captain Terror wants you _dead_!"

* * *

**III. BACK FROM THE GRAVE**

**Thursday, November 3, 1971**

**The Principality of Hohergarten**

**The Vicinity of**

**Schwarzes Felsenschloß**

**(Black Rock Castle)**

**2300 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

It was the eve of the Second Alpine Race. Thunder and lightning went off in a plain not far from Captain Terror's high Alpine castle as Terror and twelve other members of the Car Acrobatic Team gathered in the night near their cars for the eerie torchlight ceremony that preceded every one of their races. 

"Tonight!" yelled Terror. "We are here to draw our energy from the elements and the ancient spirits of the Mountains! We have completed our internal time trials! Deger, tell us who won them!"

A driver with a "D" on his uniform walked over and said. "The following racers are chosen for this race! Snake, driving the Number 13, equipped with the GRX!"

Snake laughed, having gotten some of his prior calculating intelligence back.

"The other six drivers are as follows! Pit Viper, driving car Number 66!"

An evil-looking driver laughed as he stood beside his Acrobatic Team car.

"The other drivers are…_Anthrax!_ _Scorpion!_ _Gangrene!_ _Sarin!_ _Smelly!_"

"Smelly?" muttered some of the other drivers as they looked at a big hulking Acrobat with a rough beard…who _did_ smell rather bad.

"How'd _he_ get it?"

"I dunno," said another Acrobat as Smelly picked up a tree branch and bit off a huge hunk of bark and began to chew on it like some beast.

"Do not question my decisions!" yelled Captain Terror. "The tale of seven is filled and I have spoken! We race tomorrow…to the death of the rest of the racing world!"

"TO THE DEATH OF THE RACING WORLD!" yelled the others.

Then, as they went to their cars, Captain Terror thought. You fools. You don't know that I took insurance policies out on all of you. And I don't expect any of you fools to come back; not even you, Snake. Still, to bring back the most glorious regime ever, don't you have to kill some people at times?

Captain Terror smiled as lightning again illuminated his ghastly face as he nodded while the drivers raced off to Switzerland that night to meet their destiny…

* * *

The Racers Are Preparing to Meet At Last. 

What will happen during this race?

What is Captain Terror planning? Does he plan to murder his own son?

Who will win the race?

Stay tuned for Chapter Three: "Back to the Alps (Part Two)"


	3. Chapter 3

**Unexpected Alliances**

**Another Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"**

**Chapter Three "Back to the Alps (Part Two)"**

--

_First…we have to deal with the usual copyrights and credits...etc…._

**_Speed Racer_**_ is (c) 2008 by Speed Racer Enterprises… I don't own this property...**Freddo**_

_Second: This is a sequel to **Attack and Counterattack**_, _but, I can't guarantee we're staying in Speed's universe after all, although we do, for this chapter (I think...or do we?)…_

_Finally, thanks to GoldAngel and Oriana for the great reviews! And this thing continues to grow...and mutate...__**Freddo **_

**I.**** RACE TIME**

**Friday, November 4, 1971**

**West Germany**

**Near Seyer on the Rhine**

**The Hockenheimring Motorway**

**1100 Hours (Local Time)**

Go Team was busy in the pits at the Hockenheimring Racetrack where the Second Alpine Race was about to begin. The Hockenheimring was a distance up the Rhine River in West Germany. It was a long-standing raceway of 6.8 kilometers built in 1932 and enlarged several times. Speed had raced there several times, in both the Mach Five and the Mach Five Formula One. The last time that Go Team had been there had been in the Rhineland Race just before Speed had been drafted. So, ironically, Speed was restarting his career at the same circuit he had last raced the Mach Five at.

"I don't like this, Trixie," said Sparky as he checked the Mach Five's brakes again as it was up on its autojacks.

"Sparky, thanks for your concern, but we're decided," said Trixie Racer. "I'm going with Speed on this race as navigator. You and Janine are in the helicopter spotting. And that's _final_!"

"Where's Speed?" said Sparky. "We start in half an hour."

"He's checking over the map. It's pretty complex, and it's quite a drive to the first checkpoint in Switzerland."

"That's around Schaffhausen, isn't it?"

Trixie nodded. "Believe me, I know this course better than you do, Sparky. It's not that bad starting out. Ten laps around this track for the spectators, and then out onto the main _Autobahn_ heading south down the Rhine and into Schwarzwald. We should reach Schaffhausen in Switzerland by late in the afternoon. Then, the fun really begins. We head south to Zurich, then pass Lake Zug, and Lake Lucerne, and then start passing into the foothills of the Swiss Alps in the night. Then, we have the race in the night around Altdorf, and head east to Unterschachen..where…"

"It really begins to get treacherous," said Speed as he finished drinking some water as he came up with his own map.

"Speed!" said Trixie. She gave him a hug, which he returned.

"We were talking about the course, Sparky and I," said Trixie.

"Yeah? And how you probably ain't gonna _live?_" said Snake Oiler as he came in, laughing like crazy while carrying his familiar Car Acrobatic Team striped helmet.

"You?" snapped Speed.

"Remember me, _chicken_?" laughed Snake. "Too bad ya lost your edge when you got drafted, Speed! This time, _I'm_ leading my team!"

"I was serving my country," snapped Speed. "I don't know what _you_ were doing then, Snake?"

"I was having fun," sneered Snake. "Too bad I couldn't have been with your lovely wife then, Speed!"

"I wouldn't want you if you were the last man on Earth, Snake!" huffed Trixie. "_Hmph_!"

"Little spitfire, ain'tcha?" laughed Snake. "What's she doin', Speed? Makin' ya cold milk and cookies? When did you develop that stupid habit of having cold milk after a race?"

"It's a tradition to remember his brother, Rex," said Pops as he came up swinging a large wrench. "And, as for his wife, she's navigating for him. And who invited you here, anyway, Snake?"

"I did," sneered Snake. "I wanted to give Speed a friendly warning."

"Which is?"

"If you value your life, quit this race," said Snake. "I plan to win it. Everyone else is gonna meet their Maker up in the Alps. If you don't wanna make Trixie a widow, just check your name off the IRC list, chicken. And go home and make babies with her until you and I have a little friendly race again next year at **Oschersleben. There, I'll make you look stupid. But I won't have to kill ya, Racer. Got it?"**

"I'm not afraid of you," snapped Speed. He almost wanted to punch out Snake until someone else stepped in between them.

He had on a white firesuit; and a black mask.

"Racer X!" said Speed.

"Glad to see you here," said Racer X. "But, Speed, listen to me."

"What?" said Speed.

"For once, Snake Oiler and I _agree_ on something," said Racer X as he put his arm around Speed and led him away from the sneering figure of Snake. "Leave the race."

"Why?" snapped Speed. "So _you_ can win it, Racer X?"

"Yes," said Racer X with a grim smile. "I also have something to report to you and Pops," he said. "A friend of mine and I have been doing some investigative work," said Racer X. "Snake is a danger to himself and everyone else in this race. His father put him up to something." Racer X paused and said, "Snake should be disqualified right here and now. We're trying to convince the IRC of that. We found evidence, my friend and I, that Snake is intoxicated on Aqueous V-Gas."

"What the…?" said Pops. "Racer X, that means he's half-insane? But why is he on that devil's brew that Oriana invented?"

"The Car Acrobatic Team made a little purchase," said Racer X in a low voice. "Pops, Speed, that madman dug up and purchased the GRX."

"What?" said Pops. "That engine from _hell?_ It's _here_?"

Racer X nodded. "The race is too dangerous for Speed and Trixie to be in. I think you should withdraw their names."

"I think not," retorted Speed.

"It might be better if you withdrew them," said a youngish man who spoke in a slight Scottish burr.

"Who are you?" said Pops as he turned around. He and Speed looked at a rather unassuming but eccentric-looking young man with dark brown hair who wore a long fawn-colored overcoat, dark brown pinstriped suit, and white sneakers?

"Doctor John Smith, special IRC inspector at large," snapped the young man as he held up a credentials book that apparently presented to Pops and Speed an IRC commission and badge. Of course, it was a blank book with psychic paper, but the Time Lord didn't need to let anyone (but Rose Tyler) know that.

"Wait a minute," said Pops as he looked suspiciously at Doctor Smith. "I heard a little about you on the BBC. Isn't it true that whenever you show up, lots of people die for no reason at all?"

"They said the same thing about me, too," said Racer X.

Speed glared at the young man, feeling a shiver going dowm his spine as he remembered. _I've met him before,_ he thought. _He feels very familiar. But when? Was it that time, around that one race they say I missed because I had a fever? I had these weird…fever dreams…_

Then, conflicting images went through Speed's head…

_An image of a pyramid in the jungle…_

_An image of some bearded, laughing madman dragging Trixie around…_

_Memories of being on a ship…but a ship high in orbit above Earth, as he and Trixie danced with another young couple…_

_An image of an older man with curly white hair and a dramatic opera cloak…_

_…and an image of a blue box…_

"Blue Box?" mumbled Speed.

"Speed?" said Trixie. She looked hard at the young man in the brown suit. "Who are you?"

"A friend," he snapped. "Oh, by the way, he may need rest. He was talking about a blue box. IRC inspectors don't have blue boxes. Good day."

At that, the young man and Racer X turned and went back to their own pits.

"This is _weird_," said Sparky.

"I'm not quitting this race," snapped Speed.

"Suit yourself," said Snake as he threw a chicken bone in Speed's direction. "Well, at least they won't write 'CHICKEN' on your tombstone! I'll grant ya that much!"

"That son-of-a.." muttered Speed as he went to follow.

"Speed," said Pops. "Save it for the race. That is, if you won't take Rex's advice," he whispered.

"You know?" whispered Speed.

Pops nodded. "Long story. If you and Trixie are bound and _determined_ to go…better get ready. Starting time is in fifteen minutes…"

**II. FIRST ROW**

**Friday, November 4, 1971**

**West Germany**

**Near Seyer on the Rhine**

**The Hockenheimring Motoway**

**1130 Hours (Local Time)**

Speed and Trixie were in the Mach Five, which sat in the first row before the starting line at the Hockenheimring. Speed and Trixie did not make the pole position, but, beside them sat, on one side, Racer X and the Shooting Star, and on the other side, there sat Snake's Number 13, a sleek black and gold car with bizarre ace-of-spades markings called The Deathcard.

At the moment, Doctor "Smith" and two other IRC judges had The Deathcard's hood up and were looking over the rebuilt GRX and some of the bizarre accessories crammed under the hood around the cursed engine.

"I tell you," said the Doctor. "I know what I am talking about! That thing connected to the crankcase by the left valve cover is a tachyonic ram device! There are issues involved in letting something with a high potential electromotive radiation force in this race!"

"It looks like a smog control _air pump_ from a '69 Camaro," said the other judge. "Look, sir, I can even read the GM serial number on it!"

"Like bollocks!" said the Doctor as he ran a weird analysis device over it. "It's sucking in neutrinos even now! I don't know what sort of maniac is sucking neutrinos into a petrol engine, but…"

Snake smiled and said. "Ya see? I am very environmentally conscious. It's been rebuilt to '69 California specs for pollutants. This is gonna be the cleanest car in the whole race."

"We have three minutes to starting time," said one of the other judges. "I outrank you, Special Inspector," said the judge, namely, Olde Codger. "I see nothing here inconsistent with IRC minimum standards. It's rather gallant that Oiler has given himself a six-horsepower power penalty and a two hundred kilogram weight penalty by adding conventional GM emissions equipment to his engine. And that _is_ a normal fuel diverter valve. More Camaro smog equipment."

"Fuel diverter valve?" snapped the Doctor. "It just _looks_ like one! It's really a supercharger metering valve. Legal under the Shadow Proclamation and also under the Terran/R'Khell Non-Aggression Treaty of 2212, but I'll be damned if we let that thing go into a race car!"

"Doctor Smith," said Olde Codger. "I think you've been out in the sun too long," said the old man. "Turgison, mark off Oiler's car as "approved" and let's proceed with the race."

The other judge nodded as Codger escorted the shouting Doctor off the track and said as he slammed down his hood and checked off a mark on a clipboard, "You're cleared to race, Mister Oiler. Sorry about the delay."

"Thanks," said Snake. "Maybe you should check the Mach Five. I think Racer has an illegal supercharger duct in that engine," said Snake with a crazed grin.

"We checked the Mach Five forty-five minutes ago at the same time we inspected High Octane's car," snapped Turgison. "He's just as clear as you are, Oiler. Nice try, though, lad. You'll have to beat him in the race."

Snake gritted his teeth as he then turned to _his_ navigator, a girl all in black named Penny Laine. The mysterious blond-haired beauty from Britain in her black firesuit and helmet and pink scarf was Snake's newest girl, a woman he had inducted as an apprentice Car Acrobat against his father's objections. Snake had met Penny while they had both been on trial in Canada for fixing a race in 1970, and Snake's shady lawyer and Penny's shyster lawyer (both lawyers currently had their Bar licenses under a one-year suspension) had joined their cases and put the two of them together. Snake and Penny were not married, but Penny had been in Snake's bed several times.

"Well, my darling Cobra," said Penny as she seductuively patted Snake's hand. "I think we're ready for our agenda. I see most of your other Acrobats have navigators…"

"None as sexy as you," said Snake.

"I bloody hope _not_," she said in a pouty Cockney voice. "You don't know how many other racers and rock icons I've had…Guts Wheeler…"

"A chicken," sneered Snake. "I made him look so _stupid_ before the First Alpine Race."

"Tim MacPherson, Mick Jagger, Eric Burdon, Elvis, Paul McCartney, Zoomer Slick…"

"You've got the morals of a randy cat," purred Snake.

"Why, thank you," said Penny. "I wanted Speed before I wanted you, by the way. But _she_ got in the bloody way," said Penny as she pointed a finger at Trixie's head and pretended she was shooting her.

"Don't give it away yet," whispered Snake. "Save the Walther PPK for if we _really_ have to use it. Although I kinda don't wanna. I really don't want Racer dead."

"Why not?" purred Penny.

"He's too much fun to make fun of," laughed Snake. "Way too moral for me, though. I always like it when I cause trouble and make him look stupid!"

Snake and Penny laughed at that. These two were made for each other…a serpent and a minx.

The announcer said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Alpine Race is about to begin once again in two minutes! Drivers, make all final preparations!"

To the right of the Mach Five, Racer X had taken his place behind the wheel. He reluctantly nodded at Speed, who gave him a thumbs-up in return.

"Aaaaaaa," hissed Snake as he watched Speed from his left. "I wanna give him another kind of salute, Penny!"

"Does it involve that middle finger?" purred Penny.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Better not," she purred. "The judges are watching us. Do you, Race Captain of the Car Acrobatic Team, want to get us disqualified for _unsportsmanlike_ conduct?"

"Only if they ain't watchin!" snapped Snake.

Beside Snake's car sat a car with the number 43 in British Racing Green that made Speed take notice.

"Trixie, look at that driver! He doesn't have a navigator; like Racer X…"

"Racer X never uses a navigator," said Trixie. "Who is he?"

Speed looked hard at the other racer. He had on a dark green helmet that bore a white rose, and, as he adjusted the helmet faceplate and flipped it up, Speed suddenly figured out who it was.

"Trixie! My God! I knew him from Vietnam! How did he end up racing, much less with the Abrogado Team?"

"Who?" whispered Trixie.

"Trixie, that's Lieutenant Dave Forrester! My platoon leader from Vietnam!" Speed flicked his eyes in disbelief at the young man. Yes, it was the same young man, with his rather interesting, thoughtful face, dark brown eyes, fine nose, and wire-rimmed granny glasses. A bit of his honey blonde hair stuck out of his green helmet. "What's _he_ doing here? I thought he was still in the Army!"

"Apparently, he's not," said Trixie.

"One minute to race time!" snapped the announcer. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES!"

"Enough philosophizing, time to race," muttered Speed. He turned the key and started the Mach Five. Its twelve-cylinder engine started, kicked in, and began to purr as if it had never left the racetrack. It was 1969 again, and Vietnam and those two years were now a distant memory for Speed.

A girl in a one-piece swimsuit, feathered headdress, and high-heeled sandals got up on a platform, waved, and stood with the checkered flag at her side, furled, smiling as powerful race-car engines accelerated and howled all around her.

"THIRTY SECONDS TO START!" snapped the announcer.

The first yellow light flickered to life at the top of the Christmas Tree light standard near the pole.

"There's going to be one heck of a mixup when we start, Speed," said Trixie.

"I'm going to make sure I'm one of the first ones off the line," replied Speed as he revved the Mach Five's engine with his right foot. His left stood ready to punch in the clutch, and his right hand sat waiting on the gearshift.

"FIFTEEN SECONDS TO START!" snapped the announcer.

The Christmas Tree lights began to count down from Fifteen with a loud beep for each light.

"I got Racer in the bag," muttered Snake as he prepared to downshift himself as he prepared to snap his steering wheel just a little to the right…

The lights counted down. 10…9…8..7…6…

When they reached One, the green light then went off, and the swimsuit-clad girl waved the checkered flag from her platform.

Speed punched the clutch, shifted down to First, and expertly gave gas to the Mach Five.

He was off a moment later, racing along as everything turned into a blur around him as the Mach Five's speedometer and tach burst to life. Second at redline, Third at redline again a moment later as the Mach Five gathered speed and began to roar towards the first turn with no one near him while the crowd cheered.

Cars bunched behind the Mach Five a moment later. Trixie caught a laughing face in the rear view mirror.

"Speed! Watch out for Snake! He's trying something dirty!"

"Not if I can damn well help it," snapped Speed as he heel and toe shifted down into Second for a sharp turn, and then kicked back into Third and Fourth for the first long straightway.

Nudge of the brake, and them Snake was neck and neck with Speed, laughing as he shot Speed a vile middle finger. "Heyyyyy RAAAACER!" he yelled over the roar of the engines. "Anthrax just took out Stan Parsons!" he screamed as Speed saw the fireball of an exploding car in his rear view mirror. "Now it's _your_ turn, SHITFACE!"

The New GRX screeched insanely as he tried to bash Speed into the wall early, hopefully wrecking the Mach Five's front end beyond easy repair as the two cars slammed into each other, screeching together with a show of sparks and squeal of grinding metal.

Speed heard the crowd groaning at that.

Up in the stands, Mom Racer dropped her field glasses. "Pops! Speed's in trouble!"

"Oh, great!" muttered Pops. "Just in the first lap, too! That Snake Oiler is insane! What's that jackass trying to do, kill everyone?"

"Where's Spritle and Chim-Chim?" said Mom. "I haven't seen them since we left them in the pits!"

"Sparky was supposed to keep an eye on them," growled Pops. "Where the hell did they go?"

The Mach Five scraped the wall as Snake slammed in again while Speed struggled to keep control.

In the meantime, the Mach Five's trunk lid popped open, just a hair, from the inside.

"Got the marbles?" whispered Spritle.

Chim-Chim grunted once as he handed Spritle a marble.

"Looks like the doctor has to operate," whispered Spritle as he readied his slingshot. "Right in Snakie's nose…that'll get him off Speedy's tail!"

Chim-Chim nodded as Spritle fired the slingshot.

"YARRGH!" Snake yelled as a little object flicked onto the Deathcard GRX's windscreen, hitting him painfully in the nose.

"Stones!" yelled Penny Laine as the Deathcard GRX began to skid, just enough for the Mach Five to get free from Snake's trap and rocket into the next straightway, taking the lead.

A moment later, while snarling at the Mach Five, Snake felt a car in British Racing Green smashing into his own car.

"Damn you, Team Abrogado!" yelled Snake as David Forrester's car smashed into his own.

"Don't screw with my buddy from 'Nam!" snapped Lieutenant David Forrester, US Army Reserve, as he shook a fist at Snake as he took second. A moment later, the Shooting Star and Racer X dropped Snake down to fourth.

"I'll get them," muttered Snake as he went for the glove compartment.

"Not here!" yelled Penny.

"Why not?"

"Witnesses, stupid! _Witnesses_!" said Penny as she made sure Snake kept the Walther right where it belonged; for now, anyway.

"Yeah, right," said Snake. He undid his radio mike and snapped, "ACROBATS! Hold off from tryin' to kill anyone, for now! We're bein' _watched_!"

"Boss, I got a perfect opportunity to knock Guts Wheeler offa da track!" said Smelly over the speakers.

"Save Guts Wheeler for later!" snapped Snake. "That goes for all of you! Ten lashes for anyone who disobeys my orders! Got that?"

The other Acrobats responded with sneering "Yeahs" as the race went into its second lap.

**AN HOUR LATER….**

A few kilometers away from the track, on the cleared Autobahn, the Mercedes pace car pulled off to the side as Olde Codger, in the front seat beside his driver, got a report by radio from a spotter.

"They're out of the city limits now, Judge. Fair race, only two crashes."

"Not bad, for the start," muttered Olde Codger. "Heimwald, get the camera ready."

"Yessir," said the IRC driver as he got a Nikon F and its tripod and telephoto lens out of the trunk of the Mercedes. "Ready for first photo…high shutter speed…"

Not far away, Speed was engaged in another round of slam-and-bash with another old nemesis, his "friend" Skull Duggery from Alpha Team, racing his familiar blood-red Ferrarri with its usual number 2 on the side. Speed was a little more content with this battle, knowing all that old Duggery wanted to do was drive dirty as usual and take him out of this race until their next meeting, when he'd do it all over again. _Duggery's as predictable as the Viet Cong,_ thought Speed. _And almost as annoying._

Duggery's navigator, a man with a beard named Snuff Raglan, said, "Now, wait until we hit that guardrail. We can slam him over that…"

"If I can catch him!" said Duggery. "I thought you and Junkins said you put a new turbocharger in this heap!"

Then, a moment later, Duggery was slammed, himself, by another car, in British racing green.

"That guy again!" said Raglan.

"Damn him!" hissed Duggery as he turned the Ferrari's wheel hard. "How much money did Go Team pay those Abrogardo weirdoes to be their enforcer? Who runs Team Abrogardo, anyway?"

"A nine-year old girl," said Raglan with a chuckle.

"_What_?" said Duggery.

"Team Abrogardo has been owned ever since 1952 by a wealthy family from Colorado called the Forresters," said Raglan. "I used to work for 'em until Wiley gave me a higher offer to jump to Alpha Team. This family is an extended clan of ranchers and lawyers and stuff. The Abrogardo patriarch always places the team in the name of his oldest daughter as a sentimental gesture. Right now, old man Forrester's oldest daughter Vanessa, who is ten, legally owns Abrogardo Team. Their emblem is a white rose and a yellow star. Usually, a business manager or guardian runs the team for the child. They also have a side business as a horse racing team. Rumor has it they're gonna put their Army brat kid in at Indy next year. They're a weird bunch. Too honorable for me. Family's part Japanese or something. They're as weird as Captain Terror's crazy bunch. They also have some kind of alliance with this other team that shows up every now and then called Omega Team. They say Omega Team is filled with weird drivers. One time, in the Post Club at Watkins Glen, I heard some kind of weird story that Omega Team had this crazy old man racing for them once."

"What was so weird about that?" said Duggery.

"The old man was supposed to be from outer space," said Raglan. "Everyone was scared of him. There was weird stuff going on in that TransAmerica Race back in July of '68. The one that ended at the border of Kapetopac at the last minute?"

"Were you guys all drunk or something during that race?" said Duggery. "I didn't qualify, so they stuck my wacko cousin Zoomer Slick in the race instead. Damn Wiley. I'd love to kick Zoomer's butt one of these days, Rags…"

"You're more wacko than Zoomer," said Raglan with a grin.

"No, I am the greater sociopath!" said Duggery. "We was also in the top of the class in reform school!"

"Hoo boy," said Raglan. "This is gonna be a _loooong_ race…"

**III. ABROGARDO TEAM LIVES!**

**Wednesday, September 5, 2210**

**Japan/Great Island**

**The Tokyo Megalopolis**

**Abrogardo Team Headquarters Suite**

**1200 Hours (Local Time)**

In the meantime; if one can call jumping two hundred and thirty-eight odd years into the future in a different age and time the meantime, that is, a harried administrator sat behind his desk fielding video phone calls as he sat in his office suit in the Capital City of a now-united Earth.

On a wall, behind glass, was preserved a photo gallery of every racer who had ever raced for Abrogardo Team in the past two hundred and sixty years. David Forrester would have been very pleased to see that his picture was on the wall; a picture of him holding up the trophy at Le Mans in 1979; a race he hadn't even raced in yet back in his own time.

Racing had changed a lot in two hundred and thirty-eight years. Although wheeled cars were making a comeback now for civilian use, the major circuits had gone to aircars around 2179. Only a few racing seasons later, circuit and rally racing had come to a stop when the Gamilons had begun planet-bombing Earth and making its surface unlivable. Team Abrogardo had gone into hibernation until the shortened 2201 season. The reason that the 2201 season had been shortened was because of another space war; the barely-thwarted invasion of Earth by the Comet Empire. The 2202 season had a delayed start because of the Rikashan and Technomugar wars. The 2203 and '04 seasons had been normal, but the 2205 season had been shortened when a renewed threat from the resurgent Comet Empire had caused so many aircar/swoop racers to be drafted and stuck into Astro Fighter training (In those days, swoop racers were easy to retrain as fighter pilots) that it was impossible to get a decent field.

Many good racers had died in the latest war, but enough had come home as veterans by the end of 2207 so that the Federation IRC was able to set up a 2208 season. The 2208, '09, and this season had gone off like clockwork. No problems.

Yet.

_We're back in the racing business_, thought Duncan Fife, the sixty-nine old Administrator of Abrogardo Team, as he threw down the phone. _I should be very glad that we're busy again_, he thought as he sat behind his huge desk in the Federation Insurance Building. Abrogardo Team had always been a smaller boutique-type team; bigger than Go Team had once been, but smaller than Alpha Team (which had somehow survived into this century, like a cockroach) or the other outfits like Tongukan or even that huge abomination that had risen up in the 1970's and then had withered in the late 80's. _Yet, I'm not the actual boss, and I know it. But, she's not here very often_, he thought as he opened a photo album and looked over the history of some of the Forrester daughters who had headed Abrogardo Team ever since the 1950's.

Fife looked over a number of names, usually always taken of the girls when they had been small. Felicia, Vanessa, Staci, Patrice, Samantha, Yuriko…

Yuriko, known as "The White Rose" was a terror of the circuit herself around 2042 as the one Forrester girl so far who had taken her perogative to race herself. She had been a pure honey-blonde girl, just like David, and just like one other member of the family. Her eternal nemesis had been Spritle Racer, by then a veteran of the circuits himself like his brother had been. Yuriko had a fiery appearance, wit, and was a terror behind the wheel, as well as a writer, musician, pilot, doctor, cosmonaut, and United States Senator and almost President towards the end of her life…

Fife looked through the book. The Forrester family had then continued, growing, changing, and evolving. It had produced other girls, but it had not yet spawned another historical figure like Yuriko.

Not until the end of the last century, that is. Not until the current figurehead owner of Team Abrogardo had been born in 2178.

Fife flipped to the end of his scrapbook, looking at her picture. By tradition, it was also enshrined in the office on the wall, near the windows.

_You look so much like Yuriko that it is frightening,_ thought Fife. _But you've only been up here twice with your father. You looked over some of the pictures, some of the race stuff, and left. Who can blame you, though? You've got more to worry about than a little racing team…_

Fife got up, adjusted his glasses, and puffed for a bit on his pipe, looking over the painting of the current eldest Forrester daughter that took up the wall. White EDF uniform, red ascot, far too many medals on that white jacket for a young lady of 33. A small gold plaque on the frame of the portait simply read:

Born 2178

Nova Forrester-Wildstar

The next Yuriko

Then, a moment later, a dark-haired young lady with glasses, an an elegant dark suit, striped tie, and open-toe pumps ran into Fife's office.

"Administrator!" she said.

"Yes, Mariko?" he barked.

"The IRC needs a signoff on the name of the racer we are putting in the field at the Andes Rally, _sir_!"

"Well, that's not so bad," said Fife. "Why are you panicking?"

"A rules change for the Andes Rally, sir. Appended Rule 35.23(a): to wit: _"A Team Administrator cannot sign for a legal team owner for this race unless he or she is a minor…"_"

"I have a Power of Attorney for Her Nibs," snapped Fife. "I can do it."

"Not the way the rules committee is interpreting this, sir."

Fife sighed. "When do they need the entry documents executed?"

"Forty hours from now, sir. They'd prefer it today, but…"

"NOT today," said Fife. "Today, they're all out at Heroes' Hill having their great ceremony. She leaves for a vacation in Germany tomorrow morning. We can get a messenger to her before she leaves with the husband and kids."

"Who, sir?" said Mariko. "Me?"

"No, call the tin can on the 'Net. He has wireless, now!"

"The tin can, sir?"

"Her stupid pet robot! The obsolete old Ninth Class one that she thinks is alive. The Tinwit I tried to recruit as a swoop driver once until they made it illegal! He'll do anything for Her Nibs. Probably even helps her brush her teeth!"

"Yessir," said Mariko as she took the contracts. "Where do I find the IQ unit?"

"He has a little office in their house. Fax him the documents."

"Yessir."

Fife sat down at his desk, huffed, and looked at Yuriko Forrester's picture again. He compared it to Nova's. _They do look alike_, he thought. _I need a drink…_

Then, Fife got a bottle of Scotch and a glass, and he began to drink.

He didn't know that, in just a few days, the past and present would end up colliding like two aircars in a crash.

And, like most accidents, the result would not be pretty…

_The Racers Are Now Racing in the 20th Century_

_What are the mad scientists planning?_

_Will Snake carry out Captain Terror's plan?_

_Will Skull Duggery get Speed before Snake does?_

_What does Racer X have to do with the Tenth Doctor?_

_What Does Abrogardo Team of 2210 have to do with Abrogardo Team of 1971?_

_Do we have a Grandfather Paradox here?_

_Can we trust Duncan Fife?_

_Who will survive the race?_

_Stay tuned for Chapter Four: "Back to the Alps (Part Three)"_


	4. Chapter 4

**Unexpected Alliances**

**Another Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"**

**Chapter Four "Back to the Alps (Part Three)"**

--

_First…we have to deal with the usual copyrights and credits...etc…._

**_Speed Racer_**_ is (c) 2008 by Speed Racer Enterprises… I don't own this property...**Freddo**_

_Second: This is a sequel to **Attack and Counterattack**_, _and now…things are getting REALLY weird, since the REAL villains behind Terror and Tubingen are showing up…**Freddo **_

**I.**** FROM THE DEPTHS OF SPACE**

**Saturday, November 5, 1971**

**The Principality of Hohergarten**

**Schwarzes Felsenschloß**

**(Black Rock Castle)**

**0200 Hours (Local Time)**

Now, there were constructions deep below the Mad Labs of Black Rock Castle that Doctor Tubingen had recently had excavated beneath the forbidding castle.

These constructions were deep in the mountain on which it stood, and these constructions, built in an old coal mine long thought abandoned, were unknown even to Captain Terror.

However, they were as complex as the laboratory above them.

The main part of the complex that concerned the evil Dr. Tubingen was in a huge cavern illuminated with cold flourescent lights.

Deep in this room, Gary the Gorilla, Aga, and several orange men and women in battle armor in black worked feverishly on building some strange machine that connected to a doorway that currently led nowhere. But, it would soon lead _somewhere_.

However, two beings more evil and bizarre than these were interested in Tubingen and his minions' weird handiwork.

One of the beings looked at Tubingen and said in a raspy, grating mechanical voice, "_How goes the project, human?_"

"As well as can be expected, my Lord," said Tubingen as he bowed. "The cloning project proceeds apace, as does the plan connected with that three-day death race."

"_Human, the race does not concern us, except for one thing!_" said another mechanical voice as the lights connected to the hideous creature flashed in the cavern. "_Will it serve as our test for the Time Engine? And what about Fife the renegade and his end in the twenty-third century?"_

"It should work out well, Lord," said Tubingen.

"_We do not have much time_," grated the other mechanical voice. "_Especially since I sense that our greatest enemy is involved. The enemy guilty of ge-no-co-cide!" grated the voice. "The enemy who has wiped out ninety-nine percent of our glorious race in the Time War!"_

"_The enemy who must be_ _ex-ter-mi-na-ted_!" said the other voice with a delicious glee. "_Along with most of the Earth.__ How goes the ICBM project?_"

"They are in the early stages of deployment," said Tubingen. "And…"

"_You must not de-lay!"_ grated the other voice. "_Especially not when the Doc-tor is involved!__ And the new Leader must be ready soon!_"

"_Terror must not know of our presence_," said the other creature. "_And he must not meet with the Doctor_!"

"Oh, he won't," said Tubingen.

"_He must not_," grated the first being. "_Remember this, Tubingen. All of you are expendable when it comes down to it! You! The R'Khells! The clone beings! The Leader Clone! Even the whole human race! All must fade before the glory of the Machine! The glory of the…_"

"_DA-LEK_!" grated both black-armored cyborg "pepperpot" creatures together as the lights shone off their robotic outer casings. "DALEKS RULE AND DESTROY! AND OUR GREATEST ENEMY IS THE DOCTOR!"

"THE DOCTOR MUST BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!" the two Daleks both screamed as one.

"Yes, lords," said Tubingen. "I am sure of it."

In the meantime, the TARDIS flew through the time vortex.

The Doctor banged on a control on the panel and said, "We're right on course, Rose."

"Where? Or, I mean, _when?_" said the young blond-haired woman from Earth who was the Doctor's latest travelling companion, one of many he had shared the TARDIS with over hundreds of years.

"2210," he said. "Earth, First Republican Era. That's where they're trying to build that corridor to. I have to make sure I ring the firebell on the other side. Somehow. I'm not that welcome here. Especially not in the Gamilon Empire."

"What happened? You told me about that trip before, I…"

"She's on course…come with me down five decks."

"Where?" said Rose as she rubbed her hands against her jeans jacket.

"IPC Net, Matrix Portal. I have to look at what's left of my own old IF Index File. Refresh my memories a bit… Come on!"

Rose nodded as she followed the Doctor through a doorway.

After a while, the Tenth Doctor had pulled up a hologram of a very tall, eccentric looking fellow in a long fawn-colored coat who wore a floppy hat, multi-colored ridiculous scarf, and who was apparently eating jelly babies from out of a bag.

"Who's _that_ bloke? He looks knackered," said Rose.

"Me, five regenerations ago," said the Doctor as he looked at himself stalking the weird, alien dark-green metal corridors of some other world in his past.

"What were you doing down there with Romana and that kid in the Naval outfit?" said Rose.

"That's not Romana," he said as he pointed at a slender blond woman who was beside him wearing a pink and white long coat, white scarf, white slacks, and high brown boots. "And that is not the first time I met them. She was just wearing Romana's things because I picked her and Wildstar out of their house in their knickers at four in the morning. They were rather annoyed at that. See the anchor on her collar? Earth Defense Forces, early 23rd Century. The man beside her in that black and red coat and white pants is her husband, Commodore Derek Wildstar of the _Argo_. Wildstar was a little out of place there without his ship, but at least he had his soulmate Nova with him."

"What's the _Argo_?" said Rose.

"In that time period, the Gamilons, the race whose planet we were sneaking about on, had almost bombed the human race into extinction with asteroid bombs. Nasty stuff. However, a messenger came from a little planet in the Great Magellenic Cloud called Iscandar. They rebuilt the wreck of the old Japan Imperial Navy battleship _Yamato_ into a space battleship."

"Space battleship?" said Rose.

The Doctor nodded as he switched images and an image of the _Argo_ sailing the Sea of Stars appeared in his holographic field. "Bloody thing still looks very nautical. Those big naval guns on it fire plasma beams now. Most of the time. When they fire shells, they often have compressed tachyon energy in them. Wave motion energy. An evil race that knew the secret of that energy could rule the Universe."

"Brrrr," said Rose. "So what were you doing on Gamilon with those kids?"

"Fighting mutual friends," snapped the Doctor as he froze the frame just as Commodore Wildstar fired his laser sidearm, known as an astro-automatic, at a very familiar object.

"_Daleks_," hissed Rose.

"They were trying to subvert Gamilon, which had become friends with Earth after the war," said the Doctor. "I ended up in jail on Gamilon for a while until Derek did some fast talking with the Leader of the Gamilons to get me released. I've been scanning the Net again. I was involved with these people again a year later in real time in their universe, 1968 in the universe we just left. Although it was my third incaranation that was involved. The Master and Ekogaru had teamed up. Almost took over Earth, too."

"Now?" said Rose.

"Bunch of mad scientists who want to recreate the Third Reich with the help of the Daleks," said the Doctor. "They'll succeed, too. If I can't pull something off in time. And do some fast talking…"

"Manipulation, Doc?" smiled Rose.

"Why did you ever guess that?" said the Doctor as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began to play with it. "Working just fine, too…now, we have to get there…"

"And?"

"You'll see," grinned the Doctor.

**II. DURING THE RACE….**

**Saturday, November 5, 1971**

**Somewhere in Switzerland…**

**The Swiss Alps**

**0622 Hours (Local Time)**

The race continued. It was now just starting its second day.

The Mach Five was in third place, behind the Deathcard GRX and behind Racer X's Shooting Star.

"Watch out for this chasm, Speed!" cried Trixie as she rubbed her gloved hands against the light robin's-egg blue pedal pushers she had on beneath her "Mach Five" off-the shoulder blouse. Even with the bubbletop on the Mach Five up and the heater going, Trixie could feel a ghost of the cold on her bare shoulders and arms as they drove on and the wind blew a ghost of rain against the bubbletop. The floorboard heat kept her calves, bare above her slightly high-heeled pumps, warm and toasty as well. There had even been a stretch where she had kicked off her shoes and navigated barefoot for a bit because the Mach Five's V-12 engine was doing a very good job keeping the cockpit warm.

"Jacks ready, wings ready," said Speed.

"Watch out for Snake! There he goes!"

The GRX went over the chasm first; Speed noticed that Snake had the usual Car Acrobats' wings beneath his car.

The Shooting Star went next.

The Mach Five came along maybe two seconds behind Racer X, Speed working the controls to give lift as the Mach Five left the edge of the road, flew over the yawning chasm, and hit neatly in a four-point landing at the other end.

In his car, Snake looked in the rear-view mirror and hit Penny in the arm.

"Hey! What's your damn problem?" snapped Penny Laine.

"That chasm didn't faze Racer one bit! He's still on our butts along with that masked weirdo that Dad likes."

"How do they know each other anyway, if they're enemies? I mean, your Dad and Racer X?"

"They go way back to before I even got behind the wheel of a car," snapped Snake. "I don't know the whole story. How far are we away from the third checkpoint?"

"Ten kilometers," said Penny as she looked back and saw some car that didn't make the jump. It hit the other side in a fireball that plummeted down into the chasm.

"I hope that was one of theirs," said Penny brightly.

"Nah! It was one of _our_ stupid guys!" barked Snake. "Looks like it was Smelly. No great stinkin' loss!" laughed Snake.

"That green car's back," said Penny. "Right behind the Mach Five with the red one on his tail…."

"Forrester and Duggery," said Snake with a sneer. "Surprised those two pikers made it. Duggery has a problem with volcanoes, they say."

"Yes, I heard about that one," laughed Penny. "What a fool!"

"I think we're down to like, twenty-eight cars now?" said Snake. "Lots of dead drivers back there in those chasms."

"Dead or very embarrassed," said Penny with a sneer. "The rescue 'copters picked some of them up."

"Yeah…idiots!" laughed Snake.

They hit Checkpoint Three, located near a lodge in the mountains, a few minutes later.

Checkpoint Three was also a rest and fuelling stop. Speed appreciated that since the Mach Five's gas tanks were running a bit low.

A few minutes later, after he had had his card checked off by an IRC judge, Speed and Trixie met Sparky, who had just landed in the spotter 'copter along with a pilot hired by Go Team.

"How's she running?" said Sparky.

"Good except for the brakes on the left front wheel," said Speed. "I heard them squealing a little. They might need pads."

"I'll check both front wheels," said Sparky as he prepared to raise the Mach Five on its auto jacks.

"Hey!" said a muffled voice from inside the trunk. "Chim-Chim and I have to GO! REAL BAD!"

"Oh, _no_," said Speed.

"Them again," said Trixie with a blush. "_Spritle!_"

"Oh, great, Chim-Chim, they found us!" said Spritle as Chim-Chim made ridiculous noises. Speed threw open the trunk.

Trixie had a bag in the trunk with some of her things in it for after the race for the after-race party.

She confronted a normal-looking Spritle, and a chimp who was wearing…

…her lipstick…(on his monkey mouth)

…and her after-the-race flat ladies' dressy sandals. (on his simian back paws-he had taken off his usual sneakers) Both were in fire-engine red, and the chimp looked ridiculous in them.

Speed laughed his head off. "Look, Trixie!" laughed Speed. "Chim-chim's in _drag_! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Chim-Chim got out and tried to look ladylike.

Trixie was fit to be tied with anger! "You stupid monkey!" she said. "Spritle, did you put him up to this?"

"Nah, he just did it," said Spritle with a shrug.

"I'm going to spank _both_ of you!" snapped Trixie.

"RUN!" yelled Spritle.

He took off, followed by his monkey, and followed by Trixie in hot pursuit.

The boy, the chimp, and the angry young woman caused everyone else to laugh as they ran and weaved their way through other racers, pit crew members, judges, the Press, everyone that mattered as Spritle and Chim-Chim took off up a hill.

While running after them, Trixie tripped on a rock and stumbled as her shoe hit another rock.

She fell on her knees. "OUCH!" she yelled.

She got up and tried to run, but she ran hobbled because a heel had broken off one of her shoes. A very annoyed Trixie continued the pursuit barefoot after she discarded her ruined pumps.

Speed tried to catch up to her, but she got Spritle and Chim-Chim a moment later and dragged them off behind a bush.

Speed smiled to himself, since the last he had seen was a glimpse of Trixie pulling Spritle's coveralls down.

Then, he heard crying.

_Way to go, Trix,_ he thought.

A moment later, he found them.

Spritle and Chim-Chim were wandering around whimpering as they rubbed their bottoms while Trixie was contentedly tying her fire-engine red sandals onto her feet and whistling.

"You'll freeze in those!" laughed Speed as he hugged his wife on the grassy ground.

"The Mach Five will keep me warm," said Trixie. "So will you, Speed," she said as she got up and kissed Speed.

"Yeech! MUSH! COOTIES! MUSH!" yelled Spritle.

"You two cut that out. Since you won't fit in the 'copter with Sparky and the pilot, you'll have to come with us," said Trixie as she put her hands on Speed's shoulders. "I love you," she whispered in his ear near his black hair. "We'll ditch the kids when we win the race."

"And?" said Speed.

"I have a suite waiting," purred Trixie. "Champagne. Satin sheets. Nice music. Me."

"What are you wearing to bed?" whispered Speed.

"I forgot my nightie so I'll have to sleep naked," whispered Trixie. "Do you object, Mister Racer?"

"Not at all, Mrs. Racer," he said as they stole another kiss.

Then, Speed saw Sparky coming, so as Trixie held him and giggled, he began to try to imitate Elvis Presley! "_Temperature's Risin; feel like a hundred and three_," he sang.

Sparky laughed good-naturedly as he said, "Okay, Hunk of Burnin' Love! The Mach Five has another bug in the works that I have to show you."

"Damn," muttered Speed.

"Agreed," said Trixie as she gave Speed a decidedly wifely squeeze before heading off.

"What's the problem?" asked Speed.

Sparky raised the hood. "The braking control module seems to be a little bit off based on that reading I took from the diagnostics. I can fix it now, which will take maybe fifteen minutes…"

"Time that we don't have," said Speed as he saw Snake taking off—after giving him the finger. "Or…?"

"It might hold up for a few more hours of operation. It will need to be replaced tomorrow, at the very latest. What do you think?"

"Adjust it the best you can in the next five minutes, and we'll worry about it tomorrow," barked Speed.

"Well, okay," sighed Sparky. At that, he got back to work doing what adjustments he could in the breezy wind.

**III. THE DOCTOR IS IN….**

**Wednesday, September 5, 2210**

**Japan/Great Island**

**The Tokyo Megalopolis**

**Abrogardo Team Headquarters Suite**

**1348 Hours (Local Time)**

Now, while Duncan Fife sat behind his desk having some coffee, a strange noise filled his office.

He was ready to smile, thinking that it was his old friend, until he noticed that the TARDIS that was appearing in his office with the familiar wheezing noise did not look like a white Ionic pillar, but, instead, looked like a battered dark blue Metropolitan Police Box.

Fife sighed and he pulled a Luger out of his desk drawer. He had it levelled at the Doctor and Rose when they emerged from their TARDIS.

"I'm sorry!" said the Doctor as he made a face at Fife. "I was expecting a more _friendly_ reception than that!"

"You went and changed your face again without telling me," Fife huffed as he put the safety back on his weapon. Rose was about to run up and kick him when he put the weapon down on his desk. "I'm unarmed now, Doctor. You can call your pet blond companion and your sonic screwdriver off!"

"Who is this idiot?" said Rose.

"Someone who survived the Time War under very deep cover," said the Doctor. "He lived because he is a bloody coward. Aren't you, Fife?" barked the Doctor.

"Yes, I made my deal with the Daleks, but I am attempting to make amends," said Fife.

"You, a Time Lord, hiding under some hole on Earth? You make me sick," hissed Rose. "What with the Dalek threat and all that…"

"I've my own way of fighting them," said Fife.

"And what is it?" demanded the Doctor.

Fife went to his desk and pressed a button. A panel in the office slid up and Rose screamed and got the Luger while something dreadful appeared.

In its rasping voice, it said, "_I detect the Doctor, the enemy of the Daleks!_"

The Doctor dragged Rose behind a table as the Dalek turned its weapon upon them and stopped, while Fife yelled, "Number Five, _stop_ playing games, damn you!"

Then the door to the office burst open, and Fife heard a scream.

Rose looked on, shocked when a young woman who looked a little like herself, but with somewhat darker honey-blond hair with little curls at her cheeks, jumped into the room. She gasped, pulled a hand weapon out of the holster at the belt she wore over her trim dark blue Naval peacoat. Her white scarf flew out as she wipped out a long, bare leg from under her short white skirt, kicked over a table with a foot clad in a spit-shined white military ladies' pump, and leaned against the table, firing at the Dalek with no further ado.

The Dalek took a direct hit from the Astro-Automatic and turned its turreted head around as it rasped, "_I detect a member of the Star Force! Enemy of the Daleks in Universe Number Forty-Seven! Say your prayers, humanoid scum! You are about to be EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!_"

Fife stepped in between them and barked, "Number Five, cut the crap! And Nova, you are paying for that table you just broke!"

"Well, I see a Dalek in your office, what am I _supposed_ to do? Kiss it or dance the tango with it?" Nova huffed.

"Your name is?" asked Rose as she came up to Nova.

"Commander Nova Wildstar, Earth Defense Forces officer, and veteran of the First Star Force, currently in medical school," said Nova as she extended a hand. "You are?"

"Rose Tyler, I travel with him," she said as she pointed out the Doctor. "He's…"

"We've already met," said Nova as she nodded at the Doctor.

"You and Sarah Jane, you two never shut up," said the Doctor.

"Stop being silly, Doctor," Nova laughed. "Fife, is that a real Dalek or some toy you are trying to scare us with?"

"_I am a real Dalek warrior!_ _Human, I detest the sight of you!_" barked the Dalek at Nova Wildstar.

"The feeling's mutual, you homicidal tinwit on steroids!" Nova snapped back as she put her scarf back into her peacoat.

"So what are you doing here?" said Fife.

"Simple. The Commander called us downtown for a last-minute meeting before we leave for Germany. Jonathan has the kids, and Derek is still stuck in the Commander's office."

"You're married," said Rose flatly.

"Yes," said Nova as she poured herself a little Scotch and diluted it with a lot of seltzer.

"And you have kids?" said Rose.

"Uh-huh," Nova said as she pushed Fife away from the chair and sat down behind the big desk herself. "Duncan, where in blazes is that contract?"

"Here, Miss," said Fife.

"Thanks," Nova nodded as she looked it over.

"And you go to med school?" said Rose.

"Yeah," said Nova as she chewed on the end of a pen.

"Med school in this time period is really primitive," said the Doctor. "Almost like kindergarten!"

Nova signed the paper and then said, "Fife, what are you doing with a threat to Internal Earth Security mucking around your office? I think I will have to report this."

"_You are the threat to security firing at me like that, stupid woman!_" barked the Dalek.

"Oh, be quiet," snapped Nova. "I wasn't talking to _you_."

"We deserve some kind of explanation, Fife," said the Doctor.

"He's my pet," said Fife.

"Your bloody pet?" said Rose.

"We found him injured in a space battle six months ago. Ever since then, I've been analyzing him to see what makes him tick. Oh, Nova, no need to call the Commander on this one, he sort of knows already. Or, at least, Major Maples of Special Security knows."

"That man is an utter…he just goes through me, that's all," said Nova. "But, if he knows about your pet, I guess it is all right. And I won't see to it you are fired, Fife."

"_Good, you pustulant scum!__ My master needs gainful employment!_" barked the Dalek.

"Can we trust any of this lot?" demanded Rose.

"Nova, yes. You, _Tiranus_, I am not so sure," snapped the Doctor as he looked right at Fife. "What is your game, playing around with toy Daleks?"

"Analysis. They might be an ongoing threat," said Fife. "EDF, United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, and the International Scientific Organisation all have me under contract as a civilian consultant," said Fife. "Minister Kane and General Saberhagen all know what I'm up to."

"Which is no good; both of those men are barely sane," Nova said as she took another belt of Scotch. "Doctor, they both hang around with General Stone and Maples and their cozy little set at all the cocktail parties. Fife, how do we know you're not hanging out with the R'Khells, or any leftover Josiahites or even that weird new Spectra bunch?"

"You vetted me yourself, Nova," snapped Fife. "And Doctor, you know me from the Academy. Remember? You, me, Cardinal Borusa? We hit all the pubs on Gallifrey after half his classes?"

"Yes, Fife, and I wondered about your sanity then," said the Doctor.

"Doctor, should I fire him?" said Nova.

"How can you fire him?" asked Rose.

"This is the office of a racing team," Nova said. "I own it. Our friend Fife works for me."

"Slugworth," snorted Rose.

"I beg your pardon?" Nova said.

"Ever read _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ or seen the movie?" asked Rose.

"Which of the six movie versions?" said Nova.

"The late twentieth-century version," said Rose. "You're reminding me of Willy Wonka and he's bloody reminding me of Slugworth."

"I don't walk like Gene Wilder," huffed Nova. "And could you _really_ picture Willy Wonka in a miniskirt?"

Nova's mobile phone went off a minute later. "It's Derek, gotta run…" she said. "Fife, you're on a week's semi-suspension without pay. Get this ugly thing out of my office, and you had better not use team funds again to do a darn thing with this alien enemy! Do so again, and you've got a pink slip coming!" she said as she pointed at the Dalek. Nova then said, "Good day, Doctor, nice to meet you, Rose…"

"Yes, ma'am," Fife sneered as Nova left the office with her nose up in the air.

"What do you think?" asked the Doctor as he motioned Rose aside.

"Something's very rotten in Denmark. The military chick almost fired him. Good for her, she's got spunk," said Rose.

"What do you think about Fife, also known as Tiranus?" said the Doctor.

"I trust that bloke about as far as I could throw him," said Rose.

Rose walked around the Dalek, which woke up and said, "_Racial memory! You are an enemy of the Daleks!_"

"Oh, _get stuffed_!" Rose barked as she gave it the finger.

"You need to teach this thing some manners," said the Doctor as he and Rose got into their TARDIS.

"Why'd you show up anyway?" Fife demanded.

"To confirm my suspicions," said the Doctor.

"What suspicions?" demanded Fife.

"The suspicion that you are a snake in the grass. Come now, Rose. Let him play with his murderous little toy…for now…"

"But…" said Rose.

"Come _on_."

After the TARDIS left, Fife went over to his Dalek and had a look. "Idiots," he said. "They're all idiots."

"_What do you mean, sir_?" demanded the Dalek.

"They don't know about what you and I are using you for, my metallic friend," said Fife as he pulled Nova's picture down from off the wall and threw it in the trash.

"_Which is?"_ said the Dalek.

"The production line, you obtuse glop of _protoplasm?_ We are about to give you a family, my friend. Another five hundred brothers. That and the time portal. Then, we can start causing some real damage. Then, I can tell Wildstar she can't fire me, because then, I will _QUIT!_"

Fife then began to laugh like the madman he was.

More thrills and chills to come, and very soon!

What do Nazis, Daleks, and a Plan for Temporal Domination have to to with an auto race?

Are we confused yet?

Stay tuned for Chapter Five: "Timecrash"


	5. Chapter 5

**Unexpected Alliances**

**Another Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"**

**Chapter Five "Timecrash"**

-----------------------------------------------------

_First…we have to deal with the usual copyrights and credits....etc…._

_**Speed Racer**_ _is (c) 2008 by Speed Racer Enterprises… I don't own this property...__**Freddo. **__Thanks to all for the kind comments. Now on to Chapter Five…_

* * *

**I.** **THE RACE GOES ON…**

**Sunday, November 6, 1971**

**Somewhere in Germany**

**1800 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

Speed and Trixie were having a terrible time as the race went on.

More drivers had crashed, many had died, and the field was now down to sixteen cars.

The Mach Five was now in second place, right behind the Deathcard GRX.

Speed and Snake were going up a treacherous mountain road in the rain.

Visibility was horrible, it was foggy out, and Trixie was shivering, even inside the Mach Five's warm canopy.

"Where are we?" Trixie asked.

"Germany," Speed replied. "We crossed over in the night."

Up ahead, Snake and Penny were swerving the Deathcard GRX around, hoping to fake Speed into following him over the railing to his death in a fatal crash.

"When's the chance to get rid of him?" asked Penny as they sped up the road to the summit of the mountain.

"Soon, at Teufelsplatz…"

"Devil's Place? I love it," said Penny as she cuddled up to her husband.

"Then, we turn on all of the features of the…"

Snake didn't notice the Mach Five using its autojacks to jump over him and then take first like a mountain goat until it was too late.

"DAMN HIM!" yelled Snake. "Damn that Speed!"

* * *

As soon as Speed took first place, he skidded hard on the wet road. Trixie screamed, and Spritle and Chim-Chim, aft in the trunk, were battered about. But, as Speed spun the wheel hard, he held the road. Yes, he swerved hard, and yes, he hit the rail a few times.

But, he kept the road at nearly one hundred and sixty MPH. Speed then activated the proper button for the Mach Five's traction tires, and with the added horsepower, he reached the summit several car-lengths ahead of Snake.

"Trix, now's the time to begin testing those brakes," he said as he downshifted and let the Mach Five's momentum carry him down the long, curving downgrade, down, down, _down_ towards the town of Lindau, which looked like a toy village below them in the distance.

"Speed, if we can keep up this speed, we can make it to the next checkpoint several minutes ahead of the other racers. But what I'd love to know is; why were Snake and the others making them all crash like that? If I saw things right back over that other mountain around noon, didn't Snake make one of his own teammates crash?"

"He did," said Speed. "But….why?"

The Mach Five's radio went off. "Yes?" he said as he picked up, expecting that it would be Pops.

"Speed, this is Racer X," said the deep, familiar voice. "I'm behind Snake. He's tried to make me crash several times; his car has some illegal device in it that spreads oil on the road surface. Be very careful of him. He's out to kill people!"

"But why?" said Speed.

"I've received some calls about some strange financial goings-on in this race from other agents," said Racer X. "His father is up to something very strange. I think we should report his behavior to the authorities in Lindau at the checkpoint. I saw him personally force Skull Duggery over a rail. I think he's still alive; but just barely. Alpha Team will be very angry at the Car Acrobatic Team for a long time for this. The other Alpha Team drivers left in this race will want revenge against him…"

"What do you advise me to do?"

"Keep that lead, and don't let him near…"

"SPEED!" yelled Trixie. "Behind us!" she cried as she pointed to the rear-view mirror.

It was dusk, so it was a bit hard to see, but Speed gritted his teeth as he saw Snake Oiler coming up on his tail with Racer X in pursuit…followed closely in fourth by Dave Forrester in the green of Team Aborgardo's car.

Speed didn't quite know how it happened, but, a moment later, he felt a hard bang, and felt the Mach Five being forced off the road by a laughing, sneering Snake Oiler. Speed slammed back, sick of this garbage.

Snake slammed back, laughing so insanely that it even scared Penny for a bit.

Speed skidded off the road onto the rock shoulder.

Trixie screamed as she saw a cliff coming up to meet them as the Shooting Star and Team Abrogardo's car came close to slamming into Speed and into each other with their sheer velocity.

It did not look good.

* * *

I**I. TIMECRASH!**

**Sunday, November 6, 1971**

**Somewhere in Germany**

**1835 Hours (Local Time)**

* * *

Snake was laughing so hard that he was drooling as Penny shook him. "Three of them! You're about to kill three of them! All at once?"

"What does it look like?" yelled Snake. "And I'm about to make the perfect getaway!" he said as he pushed a button and a hatch opened in the Deathcard GRX's console. Something that looked like a chromed silver overdrive gearshift control came up. As Snake put his hand on the skull-like shift knob that controlled this strange invention of Doctor Tubingen and Aga, a weird humming noise began to fill the car as a soft, dulcet woman's voice came out of the radio speakers, saying, "Timelash Unit armed. Timelash unit _armed_. Prepare to activate dimensional shift mode."

"Where are we going?" said Penny.

"Next week," laughed Snake as a weird humming noise filled the cockpit. "It's set to jump ahead two days to take us to the end of the race after I see to it those weasels behind us are _dead_!"

"You mean you're going to cheat by violating the laws of time itself? How?"

"The GRX," laughed Snake. "Tubey boy figured out how it creates openings to other dimensions. Ben Cranium lit on a secret, and Tubingen and Aga figured out how to exploit it! This car can do time warps! Ain't that great?"

"I…worry…about…you," said Penny.

Snake looked back and his mouth dropped open as he saw the Mach Five going up on its side, up the cliff a little, and then back down again to the road. Racer X and Forrester did the same move, and they were racing towards him like a squadron of three fighter planes.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" screamed Snake. "Dimensional shift mode, ACTIVATE!"

Snake pulled the lever back and he accelerated the Deathcard GRX to the point where the speedometer was pegged.

There was a loud howl, and Penny screamed as she saw a black rift opening up in Existence itself.

The Deathcard GRX went into the black hole, and all of the lights streaked blue and turned very, very, _very_ weird.

The car was executing a warp that soon became uncontrollable as computer systems under the hood strained, shorted out, and blew.

The Deathcard GRX seemed to go much faster as a strange force sucked it into a deep realm where even it was not meant to go.

Snake and Penny felt their existence turning inside-out as the car roared onwards into Time. But much, much farther than was expected.

* * *

Behind him, Speed whipped the wheel of the Mach Five hard to the right, trying to avoid the bizarre rift as he screamed. But, the rift had an energy of its own and it pulled him, the Mach Five, and Trixie deep into the hole as he felt the Shooting Star bashing his bumper. In the truck, Spritle and Chim-Chim screamed; only Racer X's skill kept them from being killed by the Mach Five's rear quarter being smashed in.

Dave Forrester yelled as his car also went into the rift, which vanished a moment later.

Snake, Speed, Racer X, and Forrester were now no longer even in the 20th Century now as they roared onwards…and then, they saw light at the end of the rift opening.

They had no idea where they would emerge, but it did not look good at all…

* * *

**III. A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT…**

**Earth**

**The Borderland Between Germany and Austria**

**Near Lake Constance (Der Bodensee)**

**A Chalet Lodge in the Vicinity of Lindau**

**September 10, 2210**

**2308 Hours**

* * *

"So, we're delayed here a few days," said the chestnut-maned young man of thirty-three as he stood watching the rain and lightning that was blowing outside the chalet that he and his family had rented in the Alps for what they thought was going to be a short vacation. "You've e-mailed the medical school and let them know that we'll be getting back to the Great Megalopolis late…"

"Luckily, I've got someone in class sitting there taking my notes," replied his wife, who was still quite a beauty at thirty-three as she wiped some of her honey-blond mane out of her dark brown eyes.

"Who, Nova?" said Commodore Derek Wildstar, now a member of the Earth Defense Forces General Staff, as well as the commander of the First Star Force. However, in peace, the _Argo_ was merely sleeping in her dock at this time; even with the sporadic invasions that had recently begun…launched by a newly discovered world called "Spectra"….and the members of the Star Force had spread out to other assignments since even the Spectran Threat seemed to have subsided for the time being. The next meeting of the General Staff would not be until September 20th, and Derek had his staff busy doing some research for him while he was on leave.

"IQ-9, who do you expect?" smiled Nova Wildstar as she smoothed down her fawn-colored sweater. "Tinwit can take notes faster than I can."

Derek walked up to the window and watched the lightning as it made his white turtleneck top, blue jeans and white socks stand out in sharp relief for a moment. "What a horrible night. You'd have to be crazy to be driving those roads in this weather."

Nova tiptoed up beside him, smoothing down her corduroy skirt as she brought a book up to her husband. "Derek, look at this book I found on auto racing."

"What years does it cover?"

"1950 up to 2206," replied Nova as she flexed her bare toes in the rug. "It's hard to believe it; but they used to hold road rallies and auto races on these roads. Makes you want to shiver, the thought of going down those narrow mountain roads at night…in a storm…"

The lightning flashed again, revealing the two groundcars that the Wildstars had transported here; namely, Derek's 2209 Ford Cosmo Mustang coupe, in red with white trim, and Nova's new 2210 Subaru NeoImpreza sedan in all-over silver-grey.

"You would have to be crazy to be out in a car tonight," agreed Derek. "Now, if you gave me a fighter plane…"

"Derek, you're still crazy," said Nova with a smile as she mussed up her husband's hair. "Jonathan's asleep?"

Derek nodded as he thought of their adopted son. "Sixteen, but he was sleeping like he was five the last time I checked."

Then, a little boy of a bit more than three, who had on shorts and a t-shirt with a clown on it ran into the living room and screamed, "MOMMY! I WANT KOSMOBURGER! NOW!"

"Alex, we can get KosmoBurger in the morning," said Nova as she smiled and picked up her son.

"KOSMO THE KLOWN ON MY SHIRT SAYS GO BUY ME KOSMOBURGER! NOW!"

"You're going to listen to a dumb clown?" said Nova as Derek was alternating between rolling up his eyes at his son and laughing. "You'll wake up your sister."

"NO! ME WANNA KOSMOBURGER!" screamed Alex.

"If you keep on screaming, Alexander," said Nova. "Your shorts are going down and you are getting spanked on your bare tushie!"

"KosmoKlown says buy me KosmoBurger," sniffed Alex. "Hungry."

"KosmoBurger is not open now," lied Derek, trying to insert logic into this weird conversation with his three-year old toddler son.

"KosmoKlown says on video KosmoBurger never closes," sniffed Alex. "24 Hours!"

"The wonders of advertising," huffed Nova.

"Right now, I think I want to strangle Kosmo the Klown," said Derek.

"Kosmo the Klown like Santa Claus. He sees you when you are sleeping," said Alex. "Bad daddy!"

"Where did he get that from?" sighed Derek.

"The latest commerical has Kosmo looking in his Kosmo Krystal Ball, Derek," Nova replied. "Then he knows when kids are hungry and he calls them. That commercial is WEIRD."

"Yeah," said Alex. "Kosmo calling me on toy telephone. He woke me up. That and needing to go peepee potty."

"Did you go peepee potty?" asked Nova.

Alex nodded.

"Okay, go find your shoes," said Nova. "You don't need socks because it's warm out even though it's raining. We'll go KosmoBurger!"

"Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!" screamed Alex as he scurried off.

"Nova, I thought you said you'd have to be crazy to be out driving in this," said Derek as he watched the rain.

"It's letting up a little," said Nova. "And it's almost midnight and my car has all-wheel drive, Derek. I'll drive to KosmoBurger in Lindau and back," said Nova as she opened the hall closet, got out a pair of knee-high boots, and sat down on a little bench slipping them on. "I should be back in about forty-five minutes to an hour. He'll go to s-l-e-e-p after he is f-e-d. And he is too big for milk. Wait up for me?"

"Why?" said Derek.

"I'll tell you why if you're a good boy," whispered Nova as she gave her husband a kiss. "I might want you to try again tonight on your job of getting me back in a family way….."

"On that again?"

Nova sighed. "Derek, the Earth is still too empty. There are only six hundred million people on Earth. We could use more kids…"

Alex came running out, squealing and stomping as he wore his favorite water-park sandals on his bare feet, albeit backwards. He didn't mind being wet. Luckily, even with the storm, it was still too warm out to worry about his catching cold…unless he got soaking wet, that is.

"Look, Mommy! Put on shoes by myself!"

"Not quite," giggled Nova as she saw his toes sticking out under the straps that were supposed to go around his heels. "They go on like this," said Nova as she sat him down on the bench and tenderly began to adjust his shoes.

* * *

Nova and little Alex drove to KosmoBurger together. Nova got a KosmoSpecial (which was sort of like a 20th or 21st Century Big Mac) while Alex clamored for a KosmoKidsMeal. The young mother and toddler ate happily together, laughing together as Alex blew bubbles loudly in his milk shake, threw some fries at his mother, and then giggled as Mommy threw some fries back at him. Nova was praying no one was watching her making a mess like a teenager to amuse her dear little son.

Alex began to get sleepy, and he was yawning a few minutes later when Nova carried him back to the car and the car seat in what was now a warm, light drizzle. Alex kicked out of his sandals, and with the characteristic lack of propriety of a toddler, he was pulling down his shorts to his training pants and going "sleepy…want jammies…"

Nova kissed and smiled at him as he tried to pull his shirt off and got halfway out of it, thinking, _It's warm, and he's a toddler on his way home to bed…what's the harm in him getting comfy?_ "Alexander? Do you want that shirt off?"

Alex nodded. Nova kissed him and pulled off his shirt, tickling his bare tummy as she helped him out of his shorts. Then, Nova noticed his shorts seemed wet on the inside. A moment later, Nova saw his training pants also looked wet and stained.

_Darn_, she thought. _I should have brought him a change. He still has accidents every now and then._ Nova then felt the waistband of his training pants and said, "Oh! You went wet on me again! How come you didn't tell me you had to go potty again?"

"Too busy eating. And Kosmo the Klown was talking to me. And I have to pee again!"

"Alexander! Do you still need to go potty?"

Alex nodded. Nova felt under his underpants and then she noticed no one was in the parking lot. _Warm night and the rain is almost over with…and he says he has to go again…and his undies are wet…might as well just strip him_, she thought as she said, "Undies off?"

"Yeah! Yuccky wet! I need to go wee-wee again!" said Alex.

Nova shrugged and then she stripped her son naked a moment later. Alex giggled as Nova got a baby wipe from a canister and cleaned off her little boy's thighs, bottom, and boyhood as he wiggled his toes and giggled. Then, she picked him up, cradled him in her arms, and carried him out in the light drizzle to the edge of the parking lot. Then, she set him down so his bare toes were in the grass and said, "Go pee-pee here..no one is looking…" while she stuffed his ruined Pull-Ups in a wastecan nearby.

Alex did so, making a little game out of it as he grasped himself and then weed on some leaves and a dandelion. Then, with the innocence and curiosity of a little boy, he picked up another dandelion and rubbed it against his stomach, chest, thighs, and even his little exposed boyhood. "Feels nice," he giggled.

Nova rolled up her eyes and smiled. She thought his babyish exploration of his own skin looked charming, but _not_ out in the open like this! "Alex, it's _not_ nice to play with certain parts of your body outside where people can see you!" Nova said as she picked him up again and cradled him. "You can take that flower with you and play with it in the car. I am not dressing you for the drive home because your pants are wet and it is too warm for your shirt."

"WHEEE!" giggled Alex.

Nova carried him back to the car, and strapped him back into his car seat very carefully after putting a towel between his semi-damp bottom and the car seat. Luckily, she sometimes took Alex and Ariel on summer beach outings without anything on them but flip-flops, so she was used to carefully buckling her naked son into his car seat. Then, she took off her own boots…they were starting to feel constricting in the warm night. Alex giggled at this. "Mommy taking off her clothes, too? Mommy putting on a bikini?"

"No, Mommy is just going barefoot," giggled Nova. She put her foot up on the grey and black car seat and let Alex play "This little piggy" with her toes for a moment to entertain him just like she had when he had been breastfeeding, or like she did when getting him ready for the _onsen_ or hot bath in her lap. Then, she kissed him and skipped over the cool, wet pavement to the driver's seat after shutting the door.

Nova Wildstar pulled on her seat belt and started the NeoImpreza, just a normal young mom taking her child home on a warm night.

She did not know that she would be in deadly danger in about the next five minutes.

* * *

Nova drove a careful 72 kilometers per hour (about 45 MPH) as Alex sang and squealed in the car seat, pausing now and then to practice belching, farting, or waving his bare feet so Mommy would see them in the rear-view mirror. Then, just having celebrated his third birthday recently, he began singing "_Happy Birthday to Me_" as he then said, "Wanna wear my birthday hat to bed! No jammies!"

"Okay. But you're getting fresh training pants on you at home," said Nova.

"Am not!"

"Am too," said Nova. "I don't want you wetting the bed tonight. It's a rented bed."

"What's this country called, Mommy? Chirmeny?"

"_Germany_," corrected Nova.

"Are the people who live here Germy, Mommy?"

"No, they're Germans," said Nova.

"Germy people," giggled Alex.

"Germy," said Nova as she shook her head. She turned on the radio when she suddenly saw a bizarre flash behind her in the mirror.

Then, a moment later, some insane sports-car driver going what had to be over 200 kilometers per hour nearly hit her as he careened past. Nova screamed and jammed her bare foot on the brake and slammed the horn with her fist. She hit the switch for the power window and cursed the other driver in her anger.

"Mommy, did you just yell out bad words?" said Alex.

"Yes, Mommy yelled bad words," Nova said in a shaky, weepy voice as the Mach Five screamed past her, also almost hitting her. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she screamed at Speed.

Speed slammed on his brakes and almost did a 180 as he careened to a stop, burning rubber like crazy. Nova swerved and ended up slamming on the brakes near him. "Alex, stay there!" she yelled as she got her cell phone out. Nova dialed two numbers of "911" when Speed and Trixie popped open the bubbletop and looked around, utterly shocked at where they were.

The road looked very different; it was not a two-lane cement road, but a four-lane highway with a median strip and strange, bright orange streetlights. Speed Racer had, of course, never seen high-intensity sodium vapor lights before since they were not in common use in 1971.

Speed also had never seen a car like the one that the very angry-looking young blond was coming out of before. He stared goggle-eyed at her and Trixie snapped, "Speed, why are you STARING at her?"

"Speed?" said Nova as memories suddenly flooded back into her head as if some mental dam had just broken. Speed was looking at her the same way, suddenly aware that he knew who this young woman was. "Nova? The Trans-America Race?" he said.

"Speed?" murmured Nova. "Speed Racer? Trixie Shimura?"

"That's Trixie Racer now," said Trixie as she suddenly remembered who Nova was. "What are you doing in our time?"

"No, what are _you_ doing in _mine_?" Nova said as she left the police undialed.

Nova Wildstar realized that she and Speed _badly_ needed to talk.

But, a moment later, their discussion was interrupted when Snake Oiler jumped out of his car, and, against Penny's screaming advice, he began shooting at all three of them with his Luger.

_Damn her_, he thought as he also remembered who Nova was. _Nosy bitch. I need to get rid of her once and for all and then find the people Father said would help us in this time period! Damn engine in my damn car!_

* * *

_What will happen next?_

_Will Speed, Trixie, and Nova be killed by Snake?_

_Who does Snake Want to find in the Year 2210?_

_How does Snake Know where he is?_

_What is Going on?_

_Stay Tuned for Chapter Six: "With Enemies Like These, You Sure Need Friends."_


	6. Chapter 6

**Unexpected Alliances**

**Another Speed Racer Fanfic by "Freddo"**

**Chapter Six "** **With Enemies Like These, You Sure Need Friends"**

_First…we have to deal with the usual copyrights and credits...etc…._

_**Speed Racer**_ _is (c) 2008 by Speed Racer Enterprises… I don't own this property...__**Freddo. **__Thanks to all for the kind comments. I'm sorry I have not worked on this in so long….personal business, my original novel in the works, and my Star Blazers fanfics have taken precedence. I was also stuck on how to reveal...The Clone, who finally shows up in all his evil at the end of the chapter. But I'm back, and now on to Chapter Six…._

* * *

**I.** **THE NIGHT TURNS WEIRD…**

**Earth**

**The Borderland Between Germany and Austria**

**Near Lake Constance (Der Bodensee)**

**September 11, 2210**

**0024 Hours**

* * *

Speed Racer found himself huddled against the Mach Five under cover, trying to protect both his wife Trixie and a girl he vaguely remembered from somewhere known as Nova. Trixie was in her usual outfit, and her bare arms and shoulders were getting wet in the light drizzle. Nova was getting wetter; since she had on a short corduroy skirt, was barefoot, and wore a sleeveless shell top that also left her shoulders bare. But, the wetness did not seem to bother them that much, although Speed thought both women would be very wet and cold later on.

All three of them were being shot at by Snake Oiler, who was shooting a Luger as them.

Trixie screamed as a hot bullet grazed one of her bare shoulders, but both Speed and Nova were looking after her.

"You have some military experience now, Speed," said Nova as she looked at Speed.

"How'd you ever guess?" snapped Speed.

"We're under fire and you're covering us," Nova said. Another shot came in. "How many shots has he fired?"

"Five," said Speed.

"A Luger has seven shots in its magazine," said Trixie in a shaky voice.

"Astute observation," Nova snapped.

"Which one of us rushes him?" said Trixie.

"Neither of you," said Speed.

"Has to be one of us," said Nova. Another shot rang in. "That's six. Trixie's shoulder is grazed. I have her…"

"Got him," said Speed. He kissed Trixie, shushed her protests with a finger to her lips, and he jumped in to rush Snake.

Snake fired one final shot, and then Speed tackled him. Speed punched him, and took the clip he was going to load into his weapon and threw it into the ditch. Then, he took a punch to the head from Snake, and, as lightning went off, Snake tried to throw him off with a kick.

Snake held on stubbornly as Speed punched at him again and again.

In the meantime, as Speed and Snake fought, Penny began to sneak up to Nova and Trixie with a tree limb in her hand while Nova was looking after little Alex in the car. "Are you okay, honey?" Nova said.

"Why is bad man fighting with man from race car, Mommy? What's going on?"

"Mommy is trying to figure that out, Alexander," Nova said as she hit a single speed-dial number on her cell phone. Two rings later, the party answered. "Derek?" Nova whispered.

"Where the hell are you and Alex?"

"Out near Lake Constance, by KosmoBurger," Nova said. "We're maybe ten minutes away from the chalet. Derek, get the police out here. There's some crazy man running around with a Luger. A race driver who just appeared out of nowhere is fighting with him. The race driver seems vaguely familiar from somewhere…."

"Are you all right? Where's Alex?"

"Here, DADDY!" said Alex as Nova tickled the bottom of his little bare foot.

"Good," Nova said. "And see if you can get out here soon, too. Love you."

"Love you too, Nova…"

Trixie looked in at them and she smiled at Alex. "How cute," she whispered. "Is he yours?"

Nova nodded.

"Awww..he's naked! Where's his clothes?" giggled Trixie.

"Pee accident," giggled back Nova. "We're staying not too far from here…he'll get undies on when he gets home and…"

Trixie screamed. "Watch out, Mrs. Nova!"

This was just as Penny swung at both women with the tree branch. Trixie ducked a little, and she kicked at Penny. The tree branch went flying, but Penny threw herself at Trixie. Both women were grappling on the ground as Nova kissed Alex…and then threw herself into the fight, punching at Penny right along with Trixie as Penny screamed, "You two are crazy! I give up! I give up! Where _is _this place?"

Trixie looked over at Speed, who had kicked Snake into submission at last. Snake was dragged up and his wrists were tied with his own belt while Nova tied up Penny's wrists with a scarf she had taken from her car and then made her stand near a tree. The 23rd century woman looked at their old internal-combustion engined cars and said, "This is the twenty-third century. It's September 2210, and…"

Then, another car roared up the side of the road, passed through a gap in the median strip, and approached them at high speed. It was red with white trim. "Derek!" Nova cried as she recognized the car.

Commodore Derek Wildstar bounded out of the car with his Astro-Automatic in hand. He had put on over his clothes a dark blue short Naval peacoat with red lining, white striping, and an anchor on one breast. Speed noticed the uniform style was very unusual and he asked, "What sort of uniform is that?"

"Earth Defense Forces," snapped Commodore Wildstar as he hugged and kissed Nova. "What are you doing out here in the rain with no shoes on?" he asked.

"My boots were getting hot, Derek…then….well…"

Red and blue lights scanned the area as two police cruisers pulled up. Speed started at the police cruisers. He had never seen aircars before. "You said this was…"

"The year 2210," Nova said. "Are you even _from_ this time?" she said as more memories began rushing back into her head while she popped open the trunk of her car, found a pair of thong sandals, threw them on the ground, and kicked into them so she would at least have some covering on her bare feet.

"No,' said Speed as memories began rushing back into his head. "Is your name something like Vega…Astra?"

"I had said Nova…remember? Nova Wildstar!" Nova said. "Yours is…Greg? Greg…"Speed" Racer? I was reading about you in a history book I was looking at before!"

"Nova, what the hell is going…?" Derek said as memories began to fill _his_ head. "Speed?" he said.

"Wildstar?" said Speed as recognition came back to him. "Something about…the Trans-America Race?'

"Yes that! The Master! He held me prisoner!" Trixie said as even more thoughts began to flood back into her head as the police emerged from their aircars. She was shocked to see one police officer coming out of each car-followed by…something that looked like a robot! "Speed! They're from the future, remember? And we're in their time now!"

"How did we get into the future?" said Speed.

"It might have been that device in Snake's car…something weird happened, and…" Trixie began.

"What's going on here?" said one of the police officers, a blond policewoman. "Three-car pileup?"

"Yes and no," Nova said as she came out of her car holding little Alex in her arms. She had managed to wrap his t-shirt around his middle for a sort of covering, but a bit of his little bare bottom still showed as he squirmed in his mother's arms. "My husband called you. That man over there and his girlfriend," she said, pointing to Snake and Penny, who were tied up. "Tried to run us all off the road and then he came out of his car and started shooting at us."

"I found an old archaic weapon, Sergeant Kuhlman," said the other police officer, a young man, as he motioned his robotic partner over. "IQ-15, identify the weapon!"

"Yessir," said the humanoid IQ-15 police robot. "An archaic Luger slug-thrower pistol model P.08, last made in 1942. This one is a Third Reich-era German Army military weapon."

Commodore Wildstar came up and said, "I think I can get to the bottom of this," as he flashed his military ID.

"Sir!" said Sergeant Kuhlman as she saluted. Speed was somewhat impressed at the deference shown to Wildstar by the police. _And why not?_ Speed thought_. If the memories that just came back into my head are correct…we've met before, and Wildstar here is a very important person in his time. But what are we doing here in the future?_

Kuhlman looked at Derek as Nova put Alex back into her car. Then, she said to Derek, "Who's with Ariel?"

"Jonathan. I woke him up before I left," Derek said. "I think you'd better get Alex home and into the bath before he goes back to bed. Is he pantsless because of a wee accident?"

Nova just nodded. Derek looked at his son and said, "Alexander, do you need to go again before Mommy takes you home?"

Alex shook his head. "How come Daddy not coming?" he asked as a third police cruiser pulled up.

"Daddy has some things to sort out with the police," Derek said. "Mommy is taking you home. Daddy will be home soon, though, promise!"

"Okay, Daddy," Alex said as his father kissed him. Then, Derek hugged and kissed Nova. "You take him home. I'm going to get this third police cruiser to escort you home, and then I will try to bring the Racers over to our place. I'm going to try to get the police to release them to our custody, okay? They obviously didn't do anything wrong, best as I can figure out, and I'd prefer to interrogate them at our place over a meal rather than at the police station."

"Okay, dear. You get home fast," Nova said as she kissed Derek. Then, she turned to leave…

…and was almost run down by a green race car that appeared from nowhere. Its headlights were on, were very bright, and it was promptly being shot at by the police officer and police robot from the third police cruiser.

"HALT!" yelled the robot.

"I've halted, I've halted!" yelled David Forrester as he came out of his green racer with his hands up. His car had taken three hits, and it was smoking. "Speed! What kind of place is this?" he yelled.

Nova got into her car and tried to start up and drive home, but she was interrupted by something making a grinding noise like a trumpeting elephant. The noise was distorted, and before Nova knew it, a blue London Metropolitan Police Box appeared from nowhere in front of her car.

"Why is no one letting me drive home?" Nova yelled as she got out of her car, furious. "What the HELL is going on here?"

"Mommy mad?" said Alex from his car seat.

"Mommy _very_ mad!" Nova yelled as the door of the TARDIS opened and, out came a rather unassuming but eccentric-looking young man with dark brown hair who wore a long fawn-colored overcoat, dark brown pinstriped suit, and white sneakers, with horn-rimmed glasses."

"Doctor John Smith, special IRC Inspector at large," he said as he emerged from the TARDIS. "I'm investigating a race that started in 1971 but ended up here in 2210," he snapped. "I remember you from somewhere, ohh..this wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff has my head all mixed up, and your name is…"

"NOVA!" he yelled when he remembered. "We met in your office the other day! Remember? You and Fife?" He grabbed her hand and shook it like crazy. "Pleased to meet you, I'm the Doctor, new face, new body, you know this trick, Mrs. Wildstar, this is the third face you've seen me in, y'know! How are you?"

"Confused," Nova said. "Doctor, we've already met! I know you and Rose, remember? You called me 'Willy Wonka' the other day? And, as far as I know, race cars do not come equipped with time warp drives. Do they?"

"Noooo…not standard equipment, very, very illegal," said the Doctor as he popped the hood of Nova's car.

"Doctor, my car is not a race car. I bought it stock off the lot back in 2208 and I am still making payments on it," Nova said.

"Oh, your engine looks boring anyway, plain old fusion drive," he snapped as he slammed down the hood. He walked up to Wildstar, shook his hand, said, "I'm the Doctor, and is the missus rather put out?"

"Yes, she is," Derek snapped. "Doctor, would you let go of my hand?"

"Derek, is it safe to drive home?" said Nova. "Alex says he needs to go _poopy_!"

"I think it is," Derek said as the Doctor said. "Ahhh…little ones. You two are going to have several, no big surprise given how often you two….uhhhh…go wibbly-wobby on each other with no clothes on?"

"You're horrible!" snapped Derek.

"Yes, I know, Rose agrees with you," said the Doctor. He flashed his psychic paper at the policemen and raised the hood on Snake's car. "This equipment is _extremely_ illegal," he said. "The GRX, which should have been kept in the grave where it was again placed, along with a Time Ram, Tachyonic Ram…you people at least know what sort of mecha that is here, because you put the same thing in your monstrous space warships, stabilization device, warp meter, flywheel, Heimetz Generator, Heisenberg Uncertainty Circuit, and an extremely illegal alternator!"

"This guy has a wave-motion powered car," whistled one of the police officers as Nova finally drove off with her escort.

The Doctor then scanned the thing with his Sonic Screwdriver. "Yes. And he opened a time-space warp from 1971 that is just _now _closing up."

Another policeman brought up David Forrester. "Sergeant, Doctor, Commodore, sir, this guy says he had nothing to do with it. Just like the kid in blue and the girl in the pink and white. The guy with the striped helmet wants a lawyer and so does his girlfriend. Advice on what to do with them?"

The Doctor looked at Derek, and Commodore Wildstar said, "I suggest you arrest them and hold them here at the local lockup in Lindau. Do not pass Go and do NOT take them to KosmoBurger. I'd like you to release the other three into my custody. I'll speak to them myself."

"All right, sir," said Sergeant Kuhlman as she saluted Derek. "How are you getting them to your house?"

"I'll give them a lift," said the Doctor as he motioned Speed, Trixie, and David Forrester over. Speed said, "You were that inspector at the race the other day!"

"Yes, also the latest form of The Doctor, I'm sure you remember me," said the Doctor as Rose Tyler stuck her head out of the TARDIS. "Rose, we're heading somewhere we can get dinner at…is Nova a good cook, Wildstar?"

"She is…if you don't mind leftovers," Derek said. "Doctor, you take them to my rented house; do you know where it is?"

"Yes, I do. I'll just follow Nova's coordinates. Give her a few minutes; where she is is where your house will be, no doubt?"

"How do I know you can pick her up?" said Derek, puzzled.

"Her aura's been very easy to pick up on my sensors; especially recently," said the Doctor, refusing to explain any more. The Doctor figured that Derek didn't need to know (for the moment) that Nova was giving off subtle but very distinct energies that she had not been giving off the last time he had met her; it was as if she had undergone some startling but distinct changes recently within her form and psyche…and was still changing. The Doctor walked into the TARDIS, and Speed, Trixie, and David Forrester followed.

David looked around the TARDIS control room and said, "This place is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside! What kind of place is this?"

"They all say that," said the Doctor.

"Who's going to account for the Mach Five?" said Speed.

"And my car?" said David.

"I overheard that the police officers will see to that bloody business with their bloody robots," said Rose Tyler as she came out from behind a panel. She was blond, an even lighter shade than Nova, and she wore jeans, white sneakers, a jeans jacket, and a grey hoodie under it. "Doctor, why does everything here look like an anime series?" Rose asked.

"Because it is an anime series," said the Doctor as he closed the TARDIS doors with a grin. "Next stop, the Wildstars' rented house!"

* * *

**II. A LATE-NIGHT GATHERING…**

**Earth**

**The Borderland Between Germany and Austria**

**Near Lake Constance (Der Bodensee)**

**A Chalet Lodge in the Vicinity of Lindau**

**September 11, 2210**

**0205 Hours**

* * *

At home, Nova Wildstar was sitting in the tub with little Alex. She had gotten him to the potty just in time, and he still wore nothing at all, and was giggling and throwing water onto his mother, who was stripped down the same way for their bath. She had washed him Japanese-style with a shower attachment standing in the tub before they had stepped out and stood cuddled together under a towel while Nova ran hot water into the German-style tub to make it like an _onsen_ at home in Japan.

Nova heard the sound of the TARDIS a moment later, and Alex asked, "What's that, Mommy?"

"The Doctor," Nova said. "Let's get ready to throw water at him and make funny faces if he walks in on us!"

Alex giggled at that. "Mommy funny! Mommy going to put on her new glasses when we come out?"

"Yes, Mommy will," said Nova. "Mommy needs them to see things up-close. Like dirt in your ears where we can grow potatoes," she added as Alex giggled. "Let's drain out the water…"

Nova opened the drain, and Alex watched the water going down the drain as Nova stepped out of the tub, dried herself off, and put a towel on around her hair and her glasses. She had a kimono and house slippers in the room, but did not plan to dress until the last possible moment, since she wanted to powder up Alex.

Nova listened to the voices outside, smiled when she heard Derek's and Jonathan's voices, and outside, she dimly heard Speed, the Doctor, and this David character (whom she guessed was the ancient race-car driver David Forrester, the member of her family whom her little brother David was named after) talking to Derek.

Nova heard one of their cats, Felix, a young grey tabby, meowing for attention. Nova gave him a kiss and sat on the rug with Alex, who still went naked, even though his blue pajamas were in the bathroom. Nova said, "Powder time!" as Alex giggled.

Nova sat Alex on her lap and got some baby powder and began to apply it to his little bottom.

Then, a tap came at the door.

"Who is it?" Nova sang. "I'm with Alex, and I'm not decent!"

"It's just me, Mrs. Wildstar. Can I come in, please? I really have to…"

"Sure," Nova said as she reached up and unlocked the door.

Trixie smiled as she came into the bathroom, seeing the little cat watching her, and smiling at Nova as she put more baby powder on her son. _They look so sweet together, _Trixie thought.

"Hi, Alex!" Trixie said as she sat down on the toilet behind a little privacy stall door in the rented house to do her business. "You're so cute in the light!"

"Thank you!" Alex said. "Mommy, is she going…"

"Yes, Trixie's going potty…try not to look," Nova said as she worked on putting powder on his back.

"I didn't know you wore glasses, Mrs. Wildstar," said Trixie from in the little stall.

"Oh, you can just call me Nova," Nova said with a smile. "I'm getting a little older, I guess. I've needed these for close work for the past few months," Nova said. "Like reading, surgery, a long shift at my radar on the _Argo_…or, putting baby powder on his tush," she giggled.

"You two look so cute together. Nova, how long ago did you have him?"

"Three years ago," Nova said. "Him and his sister Ariel, who, I am sure, you will meet in a minute!"

Trixie whistled. "You don't look like you had twins! You…you have the body of a teenager!"

"Thanks for the compliment," Nova said with a blush. "It seems everyone who sees me like this says that…whether I'm in a swimsuit, or just outside sunning or swimming on the beach like this." Nova noticed a funny look on Trixie's face, so she added, "Clothes-optional or nude beaches and parks are very common in our time. Swimwear's rationed and a little hard to get because Earth is still recovering from the Gamilon bombings, and we hated being underground away from the sun, and, last of all, a couple of disasters from just a few years ago made our climate warmer than usual. So, more people just swim or sunbathe nude. It's fun once you get used to it! There are actually some parks and nature sanctuaries for families that are open only in warm weather because the rules state you _have_ to be naked to sit in the grass. Finding a park like that when you're a nursing mother with babies is a real treat."

"It sounds cute," Trixie said as she got done, pulled up her pants, and came to the sink to wash up. Nova was pleased to see she had kicked off her shoes, Japanese-style as she handed Nova her kimono. "Do you need this now?"

"It would be good to have in case the guys barge in," Nova said as she stepped into her white and pink yutaka and kicked on her open-toed house slippers. "Come on, Alex, let's get you into your jammies…back to bed with you soon…"

"Mommmmmmy," whined Alex. Nova got him to put on his blue jammie bottoms and was working on his top when a tap came at the door. Nova opened it and said, "Yes?"

"Just me," Derek replied. "Ariel thinks you fell down the potty again."

Nova rolled up her eyes as she took off her glasses and took her towel off her honey-blonde hair. "I'll be out in a minute, Derek. Trixie, open the door, we're all decent enough."

"Okay," said Trixie as she popped open the door. Derek said, "By the way, Nova, the Doctor has that TARDIS of his in the living room. Just step around it when we go out."

"I hope it doesn't leave marks in the rug," Nova sniffed. "Derek, I am _not_ losing our security deposit again to some weird alien invasion like the last time we rented a vacation house!"

"Yeah, me neither," he said.

* * *

**III. THE PLAN REVEALED**

**Monday, November 7, 1971**

**The Principality of Hohergarten**

**Schwarzes Felsenschloß**

**(Black Rock Castle)**

* * *

"It's almost ready," said Doctor Tubingen as a random Dalek trundled about the lab.

"And what is it?" said Captain Terror.

"The culmination of the project," said Aga as she came up with her cigar and pointed at a clone tank that was being brought by helmeted men dressed like…World War II Nazi SS Officers. "The Leader Clone is ready."

"The front for the Dal-ek scheme is ready to lead us," said the Dalek as some of the SS men set up a dressing screen near the clone tank. One came in with a folded brown uniform and jackboots, and he said, "Sieg Heil, Captain Terror! The Leader's Uniform is ready!"

Terror looked at that uniform. "No one near Germany has worn that uniform for years. Are we mocking the Old Order?"

"No, the Old Order and the New Order are about to meet and embrace!" said the SS man, who was named Steinmetz. He clicked his heels and said, "To the Glory of the Leader!" as he turned and watched Tubingen and Aga laughing as the Dalek manipulated some controls on a panel.

The clone tank opened with a terrifying hiss. Light shone from it, along with steam and vapor from various gasses.

The naked form of a man who was about 175 pounds, and who stood only about 5' 8" tall, came from the tank. The man was only seen for a moment before he snapped at the SS men, "_Kleiden Du mich, du Handlanger!"_ ("Dress me, Underlings!") in a very hoarse, rough-sounding, and vicious-sounding voice in what Terror noticed was _very_ vulgar German.

Terror began to shake a little at the sound of the muttered, deep voice behind the privacy screens. _It can't be him_, he thought. _Not even the aliens could have brought him back, there was not enough of his remains left to be cloned, and how did they train him to be so…?_

A phone rang, and suddenly, at least twenty SS men (or men in that black Death's Head uniform) appeared and stood in ranks with presented arms….

They were followed by ten SS officers….and…_twelve_ Daleks.

The Daleks were all in black, and little red, white, and black World War II Third Reich Swastika flags were painted on their exteriors, between their laser cannons and grasping arms.

Aga laughed in glee at something behind the screen and said, "To the end of the row, Captain Terror, to the end of the row! He's just lovely! Oh, what a great man!"

Terror was pushed into line by more SS guards, who treated him very roughly. "Kneel," one of them hissed.

"This is my home!" said Terror. "You do not have the right…"

"You do not have the right to lick by bottom, scum!" yelled the SS man. "Make Terror kneel or we knock him out!"

The privacy screen was thrown aside and the other SS men took their places near it. Terror noticed that an aisle of SS officers, SS men, brownshirts, and Daleks was formed.

The right arms of the men suddenly came up in salute as a pair of brand-new jackboots came down the aisle.

The Daleks began to chant, "Hail to the New Order! Hail the Reborn Fuhrer! Hail to the New Order! Hail the Fuhrer! Hail the new ruler of Earth, Time, and Space!"

Terror was shaking as he looked up at the man who was approaching. He was in the uniform of a simple Nazi Stormtrooper from the 1920's. His only decorations were a red swastika armband and an Iron Cross worn on one pocket.

The face of the clone….was unmistakable. He looked just like he had in the old newsreels. But, even Terror wished that the Daleks, Tubingen, and Aga had not cloned _this_ man.

The clone…had the same hypnotic blue eyes, sneer, absurd little Chaplain mustache, and the same forelock as that of one of the worst examples of humanity ever to walk the Earth. And he was being called Fuhrer again.

Tubingen, Aga, and the Daleks had (apparently) cloned Adolf Hitler himself.

Hitler received the "heils" of his underlings with a sardonic smile with his right hand raised in the Nazi salute. Then, he walked up to Captain Terror, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and snapped, unexpectedly, in rough, hoarse English, "DO I HAVE YOUR ALLEGIANCE, CAPTAIN TERROR?"

"My…my Fuhrer…yes, you do," said Terror.

"SCHWEINHUND!" snapped Hitler as he slapped Terror across the face. "You took far too long! But now, you see, we have no time to waste! Daleks! Report to me on the weapons work. SCHNELL, BITTE!" screamed the Fuhrer as spittle ran down his chin. "MACHEN DU SCHELL!" (Make it Snappy, you!)

"As you wish, my Fuhrer," said one of the Daleks.

As Captain Terror knelt, he began to wonder, _Was it a good idea to clone him? I would have wanted someone…saner than him….but….was this a good idea? Now, I begin to think not!_

* * *

_Stay Tuned for Chapter Seven: "The Cosmic Anschluss Begins."_


End file.
